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COMENIUS' 

SCHOOL OF INFANCY 









AN ESSAY ON THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH 
DURING THE FIRST SIX YEARS 



EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
BY 

WILL S. MONROE 



3*KC 



fJWM tftlMfl) » 

BOSTON, U.S.A. 

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1896 






$*w 



Copyright, 1893, 
By WILL S. MONKOE. 



NorfaootJ $ress 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



©etucation. 



To 

PIOUS CHRISTIAN PARENTS, GUARDIANS, TEACHERS, 

AND ALL UPON WHOM THE CHARGE OF 

CHILDREN IS INCUMBENT, 

GREETING : * 

Beloved, 

Purposing to communicate something to you all respecting your 
duty, three things seem necessary to be premised : 

I. The preciousness of the treasure which God bestows on those 
to whom He entrusts the pledges of life. 

II. To what end or purpose He confers those pledges, and to 
what objects education ought to be directed. 

III. That youth demand good education so greatly that, failing 
it, they must of necessity be lost. 

Having established these three principles, I shall proceed to my 
purpose, and explain in order the departments of your solicitude 
respecting this early age. 

JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. 



1 Since the value of the School of Infancy is so largely historical, the 
editor has thought best to give this quaint dedication, and to retain in the 
body of the book many quaint and even obsolete expressions. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Portrait of Comenius by Hollar .... Frontispiece 

Dedication by Comenius ........ v 

Introduction by the Editor ....... ix 

Books for Mothers and Teachers ...... xv 

Translation of Die Mutterschule : 

I. Claims of Children : Why children are an inestimable 
treasure — How Jesus, the Great Teacher, honored 
them — Melanchthon's tribute — Parents reflected in 
their children 1 

II. Obligations of Parents : Man the image of God — 
Development of a soul — Training in piety, morals, 
and knowledge 8 

III. Value of Primary Education : Growth implies train- 

ing — Instructors for the youth — David a teacher — 
Instruction should be pleasurable .... 12 

IV. Character of Early Instruction : Early tendencies — 

What training in piety, morals, and language implies 
— Introducing the child to nature — Actions — Lan- 
guage .... 16 

V. Physical Education : Value of health — Preparation for 
motherhood — Suggestions for the care of the new-born 
child — Mothers should nurse their own children — 
Suitable food for infants — Medicines to be avoided — 
Bodily movements — An agreeable temper essential . 23 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



VI. Nature and Thought Studies : Natural knowledge the 
beginning of wisdom — Study of plants, animals, and 
minerals — Optics — Astronomy — Geography — His- 
tory — Economics — Political science — Stories and 
fables — Value of the knowledge of things ... 35 

VII. Activity and Expression : The principle of activity — 
Imitation — Mechanical knowledge — Writing and 
drawing — Dialectics — Arithmetic — Geometry — 
Music 44 

VIII. Use op Language: Reason and speech — Beginnings of 
language — Rhetoric — Figures of speech — Poetry 
and its use 50 

IX. Moral Training : Youth susceptible to moral instruc- 
tion — It must be timely — Necessity of punishments 

— Temperance — Cleanliness — Respect for superiors 

— Obedience — Truthfulness — Justice — Benevolence 

— Industry — Patience — Courtesy .... 56 

X. Religious Instruction : Eirst steps in teaching religion 

— Simple songs and prayers — Idea of God — Lord's 
Prayer — Apostle's Creed — Confession of faith and 
Ten Commandments — Other prayers .... 70 

XI. Extent op Home Training : The mother the best teacher 
up to the sixth year — Evil effects of premature devel- 
opment — Indications of the child's ability to do regu- 
lar school work 80 

XII. Preparation for the Public Schools : What the 
parents should do — How to arouse a love for the 
school and respect for the teacher — Gifts to the chil- 
dren — Benediction of parents 84 

Bibliography op Comenian Literature 91 

Index 97 



INTRODUCTION. 

"May the guiding star and rudder of our didactic 1 be 
this : to search out and discover a rule in accordance with 
which teachers teach less and learners learn more; the 
school contain less noise and confusion, but more enjoyment 
and solid progress ; the Christian state suffer less from an 
all pervading gloom, discord, and derangement, but find 
more order, light, peace, and tranquillity," thus wrote John 
Amos Comenius, the evangelist of modern pedagogy, nearly 
three hundred years ago. 

/Comenius believed that education would regenerate the 
race ; accordingly all children, rich and poor, high and low, 
boys and girls, were to be educated. Instruction must begin 
in early youth and follow the course of nature. For this 
purpose, he outlined an ideal scheme which extended from 
the birth of the child to the age of twenty-four years. This 
system of education provides for four grades of schools : 
1. The Mother school, which shall cover the first six years 
of the child's life, laying the foundation for all that he is to 
learn in the later life. He is to be given simple lessons in 
objects, taught to know stones, plants, and animals; the 
names and uses of the members of his body ; to distinguish 
light and darkness and colors ; the geography of the cradle, 
the room, the farm, the street, and the field ; trained in mod- 

1 The Great Didactic was Comenius' most considerable work on the 

philosophy of education. An English translation by Professor Hanus 

will shortly appear in the international educational series edited by 

Dr. Harris. 

ix 



X INTRODUCTION. 

eration, purity, and obedience, and taught to say the Lord's 
prayer. In the first school the mother is to be the teacher. 
2. The Primary school, which is to occupy the years from 
six to twelve; this is peculiarly a school of the mother 
tongue. Here the child is to be taught " to read ; to write 
well; to reckon as far as ordinary life will require; to 
measure ; to sing common melodies by rote ; the catechism ; 
the Bible ; a very general knowledge of history, especially 
of the creation, the fall of man and the redemption; a 
beginning of cosmography, and a knowledge of trades and 
occupations." 3. The Latin school, occupying the years 
from twelve to eighteen, during which time Latin, Greek, 
and Hebrew shall be taught. Physics must be studied 
before abstract mathematics, because addressed to the sense, 
and therefore easier for beginners. Ethics, dialectics, and 
rhetoric are also included in the course of study for the 
Latin school. 4. The University, where every department 
of knowledge shall be taught by men learned each in his 
own department. " The learned men shall bind themselves 
to use their united powers to promote the sciences and to 
make new discoveries." How far these elaborate schemes 
have been realized, may be seen by comparing the plans of 
Comenius with the public school systems in our own country 
and Germany. 

It was as a guide to mothers during the years of opening 
intelligence that Comenius wrote the /School of Infancy ; 
but one finds in this quaint old book not only a guide for 
mothers, but as well for teachers and all others engaged in 
the high and holy mission of training little ones. Comenius 
loved children. His faith in the possibility of training the 
young into useful men and women was bounded only by the 
blue dome of heaven. What higher tribute to childhood 
than this paragraph : " Whoever has within his house youth 
exercising themselves in piety, morality, and knowledge, 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

possesses a garden in which, celestial plantlets are sown, 
watered, bloom, and flourish; a studio, as it were, of the 
Holy Spirit in which he elaborates and polishes these ves- 
sels of mercy, these instruments of glory, so that in them, as 
living images of God, the rays of his eternal and infinite 
power, wisdom, and bounty may shine more and more. 
How inexpressibly blessed are such parents ! " 

The School of Infancy was written between 1628 and 1630, 
during the time that Comenius was pastor of the Moravian 
church and teacher in the Brethren's school at Lissa, Poland. 
It was written in the Bohemian language, translated into 
German, and first printed in 1633 at Lissa. The year fol- 
lowing an edition appeared in Leipzig, and two years later 
a third German edition was printed at Nuremburg. Subse- 
quently Polish, Bohemian, and Latin translations appeared ; 
and Joseph Muller of Herrnhut, Germany, in a very accu- 
rate and complete bibliography (61) 1 of the writings of 
Comenius, mentions an English edition of 1641. I have 
found no other reference to an English translation so early. 
Comenius was well known in England to Milton, Hartlib, 
and others high in authority; and the fact that most of his 
other writings were early translated into English, gives cre- 
dence to Mr. Muller's statement. In 1858, Daniel Benham 
published in London an English translation (23) of the 
School of Infancy, to which was prefixed an extended and 
well written account of the life of Comenius. Benhain's 
translation has long been out of print, and this excellent 
book, in consequence, inaccessible to the English reader. 

In America, where teachers are beginning to study the 
literature of their calling, the book has been in demand for 
several years; and the present edition has been prepared 
with the hope that it may, in some measure, meet this grow- 

1 The numerals in the Introduction refer to the bibliography at the 
close of the volume. 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

ing demand, and, at the same time, add to the awakened 
interest in educational classics. In the present edition, 
Benham's translation has been to some extent followed, 
the editor, however, making frequent translations from the 
German editions (Leipzig, 1875 and 1891) by Julius Beeger 
and Albert Eichter. The frontispiece portrait of Comenius 
is from an engraving by W. Hollar, the Bohemian artist, 
who doubtless took it from life. 

The footnotes by the editor show to some extent the origin 
of Comenius' educational ideals and the influence of his writ- 
ings on later educators. Mr. Quick (67) is entirely right in 
declaring that Comenius was the first to treat education in a 
scientific spirit. Monsieur Compayre (127) says : " He deter- 
mined, nearly three hundred years ago, with an exactness 
that leaves nothing to be desired, the division of the different 
grades of instruction. He exactly defined some of the laws 
of the art of teaching, and he applied to pedagogy, with 
remarkable insight, the principles of modern logic." 

There are in English so many excellent accounts of the 
life of Comenius that a biographical sketch in this connec- 
tion seems unnecessary. The life by Laurie (48) and the 
sketches in Barnard's American Journal of Education (2), 
Compayre's History of Pedagogy (28), and Quick's Educa- 
tional Reformers (67) are commended to the reader. The 
editor has also appended a bibliography of the Comenian 
literature to which he has had access. Monatshefte der 
Comenius- Gesellschaft (54), a monthly magazine published 
at Leipzig, now on its fourth volume, will be found a mine 
of rich Comenian lore. 

Famous in his own day; enjoying the friendship of the 
great scholars and the confidence of royal personages ; the 
author of one hundred and thirty-five educational and reli- 
gious books and treatises which were translated during his 
lifetime into all the languages of Europe and most of the 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

Asiatic languages ; bishop of the Moravian church, — Come- 
nius and his writings were forgotten, and his name practi- 
cally unknown, for two hundred years. Dr. Nicholas Murray 
Butler (13), in likening him unto the stream that loses itself 
in the arid desert and then reappears with gathered force 
and volume to lend its fertilizing power to the surrounding 
country, says : " Human history is rich in analogies to this 
natural phenomenon, but in Comenius the history of educa- 
tion furnishes its example. The great educational revival 
of our century, and particularly of our generation, has shed 
the bright light of scholarly investigation into all the dark 
places, and to-day, at the three hundredth anniversary of his 
birth, the fine old Moravian bishop is being honored wher- 
ever teachers gather together, and wherever education is the 
theme." 

Banished from his native Bohemia in early life by reli- 
gious fanatics, he passed all his years in exile : now a teacher 
in Poland ; now writer of pedagogical treatises for the edu- 
cational department of Sweden ; now adviser to the English 
parliament on educational topics; and now superintendent 
of schools in Transylvania (Hungary). Whether he taught 
in twenty cities, as Michelet maintains, and whether he was 
called to the presidency of Harvard College, as Cotton 
Mather asserts (but which the editor seriously doubts), does 
not concern the limits of this introduction. But that he was 
a great man in his own day, " a noble priest of humanity," 
as Herder so aptly characterizes him, no one familiar with 
the history of pedagogy in the seventeenth century will for 
a moment gainsay. He had the ears of kings and princes 
in nearly every country in Europe; his books were trans- 
lated into Latin, Greek, Bohemian, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, 
English, Spanish, Italian, French, Hungarian, and the Asi- 
atic languages of Turkey, Arabia, and Persia; the govern- 
ments of England, France, Hungary, Holland, and Sweden 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

all invited him to come and live among them, and recon- 
struct their educational systems. 

On the two hundredth anniversary of his death there 
was founded at Leipzig a national pedagogical library in 
his memory which now numbers over sixty-six thousand 
volumes. Besides the review (Monatshefte der Comenius- 
Gesellschafi) already noted, there are in many German cities 
Comenian societies which have for their object the study 
of his educational theories and practices. On the 28th of 
March, 1892, the three hundredth anniversary of his birth, 
educators the world over met to honor his memory and 
reflect upon the vast significance of his life and teachings. 
At the same time there was erected at Naarden, Holland, a 
modest but appropriate monument. It stands in a little 
park that is tastefully ornamented with shrubs and flowers, 
and consists of a pyramid of rough stones, with two mar- 
ble slabs containing beautiful gold furrowed inscriptions in 
Latin, Dutch, and Slavonic. Here in this quiet little Dutch 
town, where he passed his closing days in exile, hundreds of 
educators come annually from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, 
Poland, Sweden, and other European countries to pay will- 
ing homage to the memory of a great teacher and a good 
man. That an American edition of his School of Infancy 
may do something towards contributing to this interest, is 
the sincere hope of the editor. 

Will S. Monroe. 



BOOKS FOR MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 

The following list of books has been prepared by the 
editor for the use of mothers and teachers interested in 
the literature of child study, the kindergarten, and primary 
education. 

a. Child Study. 

1. Baldwin, J. Mark. Mental Development in the Child and Bace. 

New York, 1895. 

2. Hall, G. Stanley, editor. Tlie Pedagogical Seminary. Worcester, 

Mass. 

3. Perez, Bernard. TJie First Three Tears of Childhood. Trans- 

lated and edited by Alice M. Christie. New York, 1888. 

4. Preyer, William. The Mind of the Child. Translated by H. W. 

Brown. 2 vols. New York, 1889. 

5. Preyer, William. Mental Development in the Child. Translated 

by H. W. Brown. New York, 1894. 

6. Tracy, Frederick. Psychology of Childhood. Boston, 1895. 

o. Kindergarten. 

1. Barnard, Henry, editor. Papers on Fr'obeVs Kindergarten, with 

suggestions on principles and methods in different countries. 
Hartford, 1881. 

2. Blow, Susan E. Symbolic Education ; a Commentary on Fr'obeVs 

Mother Play. New York, 1894. 

3. Blow, Susan E. The Songs and Music of Fr'obeVs Mother Play. 

New York, 1895. 

4. Frobel. Education of Man. Translated and annotated by W. N. 

Hailmann. New York, 1887. 

5. Frobel. Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. Translated by Josephine 

Jarvis. New York, 1895. 

xv 



XVI BOOKS FOR MOTHERS AND TEACHERS. 

6. Herford, William H. The Student's Frobel. Boston, 1894. 

7. Marwedel, Emma. Conscious Motherhood ; or the earliest 

unfolding of the child in the cradle, nursery, and kinder- 
garten. Boston, 1889. 

8. Peabody, Elizabeth P. Lectures to Kindergartners. Boston, 

1885. 

9. Wiggin, Kate Douglas, and Smith, Nora A. The Bepublic of 

Childhood. 3 vols. Boston, 1895. 

c. Primary Education. 

1. Adler, Felix. Moral Instruction of Children. New York, 1892. 

2. Comenius. School of Infancy: an essay on the education of 

youth during the first six years. Edited with an introduction 
and notes by Will S. Monroe. Boston, 1896. 

3. Currie, James. The Principles and Practice of the Early and 

Infant Education. New York, 1887. 

4. Edgeworth, Maria. Practical Education. In two volumes. 

Second American edition. Boston, 1815. 

5. Fenelon. The Education of Girls. Translated by Kate Lupton. 

Boston, 1891. 

6. Laurie, S. S. Primary Instructio?i in Belation to Education. 

Edinburgh, 1883. 

7. Malleson, Mrs. Frank. Notes on the Early Training of Children. 

Boston, 1887. 

8. Necker de Saussure, Madame. Progressive Education. Edited 

by Emma Willard and Mrs. Phelps. Boston, 1835. 

9. Pestalozzi. How Gertrude Teaches Her Children. Syracuse, 

1894. 

10. Pestalozzi. Leonard and Gertrude. Translated and abridged by 

Eva Channing. Boston, 1888. 

11. Richter, Jean Paul. Levana, or Doctrine of Education. London, 

1886. 

12. Rousseau. iZmile, or concerning Education. Translated by 

Eleanor Worthington. Boston, 1888. 



SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

CHAPTER I. 

CLAIMS OF CHILDHOOD. 

1. That children are an inestimable treasure * the Spirit 
of God, by the lips of David, testifies, saying: "Lo, the 
children are the heritages of the Lord; the fruit of the 
womb His reward; as arrows in the hand, so are children. 
Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them ; he 
shall not be confounded." David declares those to be happy 
on whom God confers children. 

2. The same is also evident from this, that God, purpos- 
ing to testify His love towards us, calls us children, as if 
there were no more excellent name by which to commend us. 

3. Moreover, He is very greatly incensed against those 
who deliver their children to Moloch. It is also worthy our 
most serious consideration that God, in respect of the chil- 
dren of even idolatrous parents, calls them children born to 

1 Madame Necker de Saussure, in her very sensible and helpful book 
on Progressive Education (edited by Mrs. Emma Willard and Mrs. 
Phelps, Boston, 1835), says : " When God gives to its mother's arms 
the little being for whom she has suffered and hoped, what a crowd of 
varying emotions rush upon her soul — gratitude for continued exist- 
ence and love springing up to greet the new-born spirit which is here- 
after to share her weal and woe and to be the blessing or the curse of 
her future existence." 

b 1 



Z SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

Him ; thus indicating that they are born, not for ourselves, 
but for God, and, as God's offspring, they claim our most 
profound respect. 

4. Hence, in Malachi, children are called the seed of God, 
whence arises the offspring of God. 

5. For this reason the eternal Son of God, when mani- 
fested in the flesh, not only willed to become the participator 
of the nature of children, but likewise deemed children a 
pleasure and a delight. Taking them in His arms, as little 
brothers and sisters, He carried them about, and kissed them 
and blessed them. 

6. Not only this, He likewise uttered a severe threat 
against any one who should offend them, even in the least 
degree, commanding them to be respected as Himself, and 
condemning, with severe penalties, any who offended even 
the smallest of them. 

7. Should any one wish to inquire why He so delighted 
with little children, and so strictly enjoined upon us such 
respectful attention to them, many reasons may be ascer- 
tained. And first, if at present the little ones seem unim- 
portant to you, regard them not as they now are, but as, in 
accordance with the intention of God, they may and ought 
to be. You will see them, not only as the future inhabi- 
tants of the world and possessors of the earth, and God's 
vicars amongst His creatures when we depart from this 
life, but also equally participators with us in the heritage 
of Christ, a royal priesthood, a chosen people, associates of 
angels, judges of devils, the delight of heaven, the terror of 
hell — heirs of the most excellent dignities throughout all 
the ages of eternity. What can be imagined more excellent 
than this? 

8. Philip Melanchthon, 1 of pious memory, having upon 

1 A very full and satisfactory account of Melanchthon' s educational 
activities is to be found in Von Raumer's Geschichte der Padagogik 



CLAIMS OF CHILDHOOD. 3 

one occasion entered a common school, looked upon the 
pupils therein assembled, and began his address to them in 
these words: "Hail, reverend pastors, doctors, licentiates, 
superintendents! Hail, most noble, most prudent, most 
learned lords, consuls, praetors, judges, prefects, chancel- 
lors, secretaries, magistrates, professors, etc." When some 
of the bystanders received these words with a smile, he 
replied: " I am not jesting; my speech is serious; for I look 
on these little boys, not as they are now, but with a view to 
the purpose in the Divine mind, on account of which they 
are delivered to us for instruction. For assuredly some such 
will come forth from among the number, although there may 
be an intermixture of chaff among them as there is among 
wheat." Such was the animated address of this most pru- 
dent man. But why should not we with equal confidence 
declare, in respect of all children of Christian parents, those 
glorious things which have been mentioned above? since 
Christ, the promulgator of the eternal secrets of God, has 
pronounced that "of such is the kingdom of Heaven." * 

9. But if we consider only their present state, it will at 
once be obvious why children are of inestimable value in 
the sight of God, and ought to be so to their parents; in 
the first place, they are valuable to God, because, being 
innocent, with the sole exception of original sin, 2 they are 
not yet the defaced image of God, by having polluted them- 
selves with actual guilt, and are " unable to discern between 

(Gutersloh, 1890). The same is translated almost entire in Barnard's 
American Journal of Education, Vol. IV. 

1 Frobel says: "Let the child always appear to us as a living 
pledge of the presence, of the goodness, and of the love of God." 

2 Strong as was his faith in childhood, he was too deeply grounded 
in religious dogmas to overcome the doctrine of original sin. Rous- 
seau, who represents the other extreme, says: "Let us assume as 
an incontestable maxim that the first movements of nature are always 
right ; that there is no original perversity in the human heart," 



4 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

good and evil, between the right hand and the left." That 
God has respect to this is abundantly manifest from the 
above words addressed to John, and from other passages of 
sacred writ. 

10. Secondly, they are the pure and dearly purchased 
possession of Christ; since Christ, who came to seek the 
lost, is said to be the Savior of all, except those who by 
incredulity and impenitence shut themselves out from being 
participators in His merits. These are the purchased from 
among men, that they may be the first-fruits unto God and 
the Lamb; having not yet denied themselves with the 
allurements of sin; but they follow the Lamb whitherso- 
ever he goeth. And that they may continue so to follow, 
they ought to be led, as it were, with the hand by a 
pious education. 

11. Finally, God so embraces children with abounding 
love that they are a peculiar instrument of divine glory, as 
the Scriptures testify, " From the lips of infants and suck- 
lings thou hast perfected praise, because of thine enemies ; 
that thou mayest destroy the enemy and avenger." x How 
it comes to pass that God's glory should receive increase 
from children, is certainly not at once obvious to our under- 
standing; but God, the discerner of all things, knows and 
understands, and declares it to be so. 

12. That children ought to be dearer and more precious 
to parents than gold and silver, than pearls and gems, may 
be discovered from a comparison between both of these gifts 
from God : for first, gold, silver, and such other things, are 
inanimate, being only somewhat harder and purer than the 
clay which we tread beneath our feet ; whereas children are 
the lively image of the living God. 2 

1 Psalms viii. 2. 

2 In his old age he wrote : "I may here mention my endeavors to 
promote the better education of youth. Many considered them un- 



CLAIMS OF CHILDHOOD. 5 

13. Secondly, gold and silver are rudimentary objects 
produced by the command of God; whereas children are 
creatures in the production of which the all-sacred Trinity 
instituted special council, and formed them with His own 
fingers. 

14. Thirdly, gold and silver are fleeting and transitory 
things ; children are an immortal inheritance. For although 
they yield to death, yet they neither return to nothing, nor 
become extinct; they only pass out of a mortal tabernacle 
into immortal regions. Hence, when God restored to Job 
all his riches and possessions, even to the double of what 
he had previously taken away, he gave him no more children 
than he had before ; namely, seven sons and three daughters. 
This, however, was the precise double; inasmuch as the 
former sons and daughters had not perished, but had gone 
before to God. 

15. Fourthly, gold and silver come forth from the earth, 
children from our own substance ; being a part of ourselves, 
they consequently deserve to be loved by us, certainly not 
less than we love ourselves ; therefore God has implanted in 
the nature of all living things so strong an affection towards 
their young that they occasionally prefer the safety of their 
offspring to their own. If any one transfer such affections 
to gold and silver, he is, in the judgment of God, condemned 
as guilty of idolatry. 

16. Fifthly, gold and silver pass away from one to another 
as though they were the property of none, but common to 
all; whereas children are a peculiar possession, divinely 
assigned to their parents ; so that there is not a man in the 

worthy a theologian's time ; but I thauk Christ, my everlasting love, 
for inspiring me with such affection towards His lambs and for regu- 
lating my exertions in the form set forth in my educational works. I 
trust that when the winter has passed they will bring forth some fruit 
to His church." 



6 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

world who can deprive them of this right or dispossess them 
of this inheritance, because it is a portion descended from 
heaven and not a transferable possession. 1 

17. Sixthly, although gold and silver are gifts of God, 
yet they are not such gifts as those to which He has prom- 
ised an angelic guardianship from heaven ; nay, Satan mostly 
intermingles himself with gold and silver so as to use them 
as nets and snares to entangle the unwary, drawing them as 
it were with thongs, to avarice, haughtiness, and prodigal- 
ity ; whereas the care of little children is always committed 
to angelic guardianship, as the Lord himself testifies. Hence 
he who has children within his house, may be certain that 
he has therein the presence of angels; he who takes little 
children in his arms may be assured that he takes angels; 
whosoever, surrounded with midnight darkness, rests beside 
an infant, may enjoy the certain consolation that with it 
he is so protected that the spirit of darkness cannot have 
access. How great the importance of these things! 

18. Seventhly, gold, silver, and other external things 
do not procure for us the love of God, nor, as children do, 
defend us from His anger; for God so loves children, that 
for their sake He occasionally pardons parents; Nineveh 
affords an example, inasmuch as because there were many 
children therein, God spared the parents from being swal- 
lowed up in the threatened judgment. 2 

19. Eighthly, human life does not consist in abundance 
of wealth, as our Lord says, since without God's blessings 

1 Horace Mann asks : " Whoever saw a wretch so heathenish, so 
dead, that the merry song or shout of a group of gleeful children did 
not galvanize the misanthrope into an exclamation of joy ? What 
orator or poet has eloquence that enters the soul with such quick and 
subtle electricity as a child's tears of pity for suffering or his frown 
of indignation at wrong ? " 

2 Jonah iv. 11. 



CLAIMS OF CHILDHOOD. 7 

neither food nourishes, nor plaster heals, nor clothing 
warms; but His blessing is always present with ns for the 
sake of children, in order that they may be sustained. For, 
if God liberally bestows food on the young ravens calling 
on Him, how much more should He not care for children, 
His own image? Therefore, Luther has wisely said: "We 
do not nourish our children, but they nourish us; for be- 
cause of these innocents God supplies necessaries, and we 
aged sinners partake with them." 

20. Finally, silver, gold, and gems 1 afford us no further 
instruction than other created things do, namely, in the wis- 
dom, power, and beneficence of God; whereas children are 
given to us as a mirror, in which we may behold modesty, 
courteousness, benignity, harmony, and other Christian vir- 
tues, the Lord himself declaring, " Unless ye be converted, 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of Heaven." 2 Since, then, God has willed that 
children should be unto us in place of preceptors, we judge 
that we owe to them the most diligent attention. 3 

COLLATERAL READING. 

F&ielon's Education of Girls, Chaps. I. and II. ; Herford's Stu- 
dent's Frobel, Chap. I. ; Malleson's Early Training of Children, 
Chap. I. ; Marwedel's Conscious Motherhood, Chap. I. ; Necker de 
Saussure's Progressive Education, Book I., Chaps. L, II., and III. ; 
Rousseau's Jfimile, Book I. 

1 This analogy is a favorite with Comenius. It appears frequently 
in his other educational writings. 

2 Matthew xviii. 3. 

3 No writer on education before or since Comenius has evidenced 
greater faith in children than he ; and it is the faith which pretty 
generally calls forth response. 

Quintilian in similar strain asks : " Has a son been born to you ? 
From the very first conceive the highest hopes for him." 



CHAPTER II. 

OBLIGATIONS OF PARENTS. 

1. Should it enter the mind of any one to inquire why it 
pleased the Divine Majesty to produce these celestial gems 
not at once in the full number which He purposed to have 
for eternity, as He did the angels, such inquirer will dis- 
cover no other reason than that, in doing so, he honors 
human kind by making them as it were his coadjutors in 
multiplying creatures. Not, however, that from that source 
alone they draw pleasure, but that they may exercise their 
zeal in rightly educating and training them for eternity. 1 

2. Man accustoms the ox for plowing, the hound for hunt- 
ing, the horse for riding and driving, because for these uses 
they were created, and they cannot be applied to other pur- 
poses ; man, however, being more noble than all those crea- 
tures, ought to be educated for the highest objects, so that 
as far as possible he may correspond in excellences to God, 
whose image he bears. The body, no doubt, being taken 
from the earth, is earthy, is conversant with the earth, and 
must again be turned'into earth; whereas the soul, being 
inspired by God, is from God, and ought to remain in God 
and elevate itself to God. 

1 Jean Paul says : ' ' The light of the soul which we call life, issuing 
from I know not what sunny cloud, strikes upon the bodily world and 
molds the rough mass into its dwelling place, which glows on until 
death — by the nearness of another world — allures it still further on." 



OBLIGATIONS OF PARENTS. 9 

3. Parents, therefore, will not fully perform their duty, 
if they merely teach their offspring to eat, to drink, to walk 
about, to talk, and to be adorned with clothing; for these 
things are merely subservient to the body, which is not the 
man, but his tabernacle only; the guest (the rational soul) 
dwells within, and rightly claims greater care than its out- 
ward tenement. 1 Plutarch has rightly derided such parents 
as desire beauty, riches, and honors for their children, and 
endeavor to promote them in these respects, regarding very 
little the adornment of the soul with piety and virtue, say- 
ing: "That those persons valued the shoe more than the 
foot." And Crates the Theban, a Gentile philosopher, 
vehemently complaining of the madness of such parents, 
declared, as the poet relates : — 

" Were I permitted to proclaim aloud everywhere, 
I should denounce all those infatuated and shamefully wicked, 
Whom destructive money agitates with excessive zeal. 
Ye gather riches for your children, and neither nourish them with 

doctrine, 
Nor cherish within them intellectual capability." 

4. The first care, therefore, ought to be of the soul, which 
is the principal part of the man, so that it may become, in 
the highest degree possible, beautifully adorned. The next 
care is for the body, that it may be made a habitation fit 
and worthy of an immortal soul. 2 Eegard the mind as 

1 A. Bronson Alcott once said : " Character, natural and acquired, 
modified by temperament, by education, by society, government, and 
religion, is a subject worthy of all attention. All that affects its for- 
mation and reformation, all that mysterious process by which the 
human mind accomplishes its great purposes — the perfection of its 
nature and the elevation of its hopes — should be regarded by a deep 
and scrutinizing attention by all those entrusted with its high capaci- 
ties and lofty destinies." 

2 Plato notes in this connection: "My belief is, not that a good 
body will by its own excellence make the soul good ; but on the con- 



10 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

rightly instructed which is truly illuminated from the efful- 
gence of the wisdom of God, so that man, contemplating the 
presence of the Divine Image in himself, may diligently 
observe and guard that excellence. 

5. Now there are two departments of true celestial wis- 
dom which man ought to seek, and into which he ought to 
be instructed. The one, a clear and true knowledge of God 
and all of his wonderful works; the other, prudence, — care- 
fully and wisely to regulate self and all external and in- 
ternal actions appertaining to the present and future life. 

6. Primarily as to the future life, because properly speak- 
ing that is life, from which both death and mortality pass 
into exile, since the present is not so much life as the way 
to life; consequently, whosoever has attained so much in 
this life as to prepare himself by faith and piety for a fut- 
ure life, must be judged to have fully performed his duty 
here. 

7. Yet, notwithstanding this, inasmuch as God, by be- 
stowing longevity upon many, assigns them certain duties, 
places in the course of their life various occurrences, sup- 
plying occasions for acting prudently. Parents must by 
all means provide for the training of their children in the 
duties of faith and piety ; so must they also provide for the 
more polite culture in the moral sciences, in the liberal arts, 
and in other necessary things; to the end that when grown 
up they may become truly men, prudently managing their 
own affairs, and be admitted to the various functions of life, 
which, whether ecclesiastical or political, civil or social, 
God has willed them to fulfill, and thus, having righteously 
and prudently passed through the present life, they may, 
with the greater joy, migrate to the heavens. 

8. In a word, the purpose for which youth ought to be 

trary, that a good soul will by its excellence render the body as perfect 
as it can be." 



OBLIGATIONS OF PARENTS. 11 

educated is threefold: (1) Faith and Piety; (2) Upright- 
ness in respect of morals; (3) Knowledge of languages and 
arts. 1 These, however, in the precise order in which they 
are here propounded, and not inversely. In the first place, 
youth must be exercised in piety, then in the morals or 
virtues, finally in the more advanced literature. The 
greater the proficiency the youth makes in the latter, the 
better. 

9. Whosoever has within his house youth exercising 
themselves in these three departments, possesses a garden 
iu which celestial plantlets are sown, watered, bloom, and 
flourish; a studio, as it were, of the Holy Spirit, in which 
He elaborates and polishes those vessels of mercy, those 
instruments of glory, so that in them, as lively images of 
God, the rays of His eternal and infinite power, wisdom, 
and bounty, may shine more and more. How inexpressibly 
blessed are parents in such a paradise ! 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Malleson's Early Training of Children, Chap. II.; Marwedel's 
Conscious Motherhood, Chap. II.; Necker de Saussure's Progress- 
ive Education, Book II., Chaps. I., II., and III; Rousseau's HJmile, 
Book I. 

1 The purpose of education with Frobel was likewise threefold : 
"Instruction should lead the boy (1) to a knowledge of himself in all 
circumstances, and thus to a knowledge of man in general, in his being 
and relations ; (2) to the knowledge of God, the constant condition, 
the eternal foundation and source of all being ; and (3) to the knowl- 
edge of nature — the material world, as issuing from and conditioned 
by the eternally spiritual. ' ' 



CHAPTER III. 

VALUE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION. 

1. It must not be supposed that youth can, without the 
application of assiduous labor, be trained up in the manner 
described. For if a young shoot designed to become a 
tree requires to be planted, watered, hedged around for 
protection, and to be propped up; if a piece of wood 
designed for a particular form requires to be submitted to 
the hatchet, to be split, to be planed, to be carved, to be 
polished, and to be stained with diverse colors ; if a horse, 
an ox, an ass, or a mule must be trained to perform their 
services to man; nay, if man himself stands in need of 
instruction as to his bodily actions, so that he may be daily 
trained as to eating, drinking, running, speaking, seizing 
with the hand, and laboring ; how, I pray, can those duties, 
higher and more remote from the senses, such as faith, 
virtue, wisdom, and knowledge, spontaneously come to any 
one? It is altogether impossible. 1 

2. God therefore has enjoined this duty on parents, that 
they should wisely convey, and with all due diligence instil 

1 Pestalozzi says : " It is recorded that God opened the heavens to 
the patriarch of old, and showed him a ladder leading thither. This 
ladder is let down to every descendant of Adam ; it is offered to your 
child. But he must be taught to climb it. And let him not attempt 
it by the cold calculations of the head, or the mere impulse of the 
heart ; but let all these powers combine, and the noble enterprise will 
be crowned with success." 

12 



VALUE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION. 13 

into the tender minds of children, all things appertaining 
to the knowledge and fear of Himself; and that they should 
"talk with them respecting these things whether they sit 
in the house, or walk along the road, or recline or rise up." 

3. To the same purpose Solomon everywhere in his books 
agrees in asserting that youth should be instructed in wis- 
dom, and not too readily withdrawn from the rod. David, 
having seen the necessity of the same thing, was not ashamed, 
although he was a king, to become a teacher and director of 
youth, saying : " Come hither, ye children, hearken unto me : 
I will teach you the fear of the Lord." 1 Paul the Apostle 
admonishes parents " to bring up their children in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord." 

4. Since parents, however, are often incompetent to 
instruct their children; or, by reason of the performance 
of their duties in family affairs, unable; while others deem 
such instruction of trifling importance; it has been insti- 
tuted with prudent and salutary counsel from remote anti- 
quity, that in every state youth should be handed over to 
the instruction, along with the right of chastisement, of 
righteous, wise, and pious persons. 

5. Such persons were called pedagogues (leaders not 
drivers of children), masters, teachers, and doctors. And 
places destined for such exercises were called colleges, 
gymnasia, and schools (retreats of ease or places of literary 
amusements). It being designed by this name to indicate 
that the action of teaching and learning is of itself, and in 
its own nature, pleasing and agreeable, — a mere amuse- 
ment and mental delight. 2 

6. This gladsomeness was, however, altogether departed 
from in subsequent times ; so that schools were not, as their 

1 Psalms xxxiv. 11. 

2 F^nelon advises: "Mingle instruction with play. Conceal their 
studies under the guise of liberty and pleasure." 



14 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

name previously indicated, places of amusement and de- 
light, but grinding houses and places of torture * for youth 
among certain peoples, especially where the youth were 
instructed by incompetent men, altogether uninstructed in 
piety and the wisdom of God; such who had become imbecile 
through indolence, despicably vile, and affording the very 
worst example, though calling themselves masters and 
teachers; for these did not imbue the youth with faith, 
piety, and sound morals, but with superstitions, impiety, 
and baneful morals; being ignorant of the genuine method, 
and thinking to inculcate everything by force, they wretch- 
edly tortured the youth; of which we are reminded by the 
singular though trite dialogue : " He appears to have got a 
very rich vintage of blows upon his shoulder-blades," and 
" He was repeatedly brought to the lash." For other modes 
of instruction than with severity of rod and atrocity of blows 
were unknown. 

7. Although our predecessors, together with ecclesiasti- 
cal reformation, somewhat reversed this state of things, yet 
God has reserved it for our age to provide a more easy, com- 
pendious, and solid instruction, to His own glory, and our 
comfort. 

8. Now I proceed, depending upon the blessing of God, 
to the form or ideal of the proposed method of education 
to be devised in the maternal school, during the first six 
years of age. 2 

1 In his other writings he says: " A musician does not dash his in- 
strument against the wall, or give it blows and cuffs because he cannot 
draw music from it, but continues to apply his skill till he extracts a 
melody. So by our skill we have to bring the minds of the young into 
harmony and to the love of studies." 

2 "Education," says Rosenkranz, "is the influencing of man by 
man, and it has for its end to lead him to actualize himself through 
his own efforts." 



VALUE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION. 15 



COLLATERAL READING. 

F^nelon's Education of Girls, Chap. III. ; Laurie's Primary In- 
struction in Belation to Education, Chap. I. ; Necker de Saussure's 
Progressive Education, Book II., Chaps. IV. and V.; Richter's Levana, 
First Fragment, Chaps. I., II., III. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHARACTER OF EARLY INSTRUCTION. 

1. Every one knows that whatever disposition the 
branches of an old tree possess, they mnst necessarily have 
been so formed from the first growth. The animal, unless 
it receive in its very first formation the foundations of all 
its members, no one expects that it would ever receive them, 
for who can amend that which was born lame, blind, defec- 
tive, or deformed ? Man, therefore, in the very first form- 
ation of body and soul, should be molded so as to be such 
as he ought to be throughout his whole life. 1 

2. For although God can bring an inveterately bad man 
to be profitable by completely transforming him, yet in the 
regular course of nature it scarcely ever happens otherwise 
than that as a thing has begun to be formed from its ori- 
gin, so it becomes completed and so it remains. Whatever 
seed any one has sown in his youth, such fruits he reaps in 
old age, according to the saying, "The pursuits of youth 
are the delights of age." 

3. Let not parents, therefore, devolve the whole instruc- 
tion of their children upon teachers of schools and ministers 
of the church. It is impossible to make a tree straight that 

1 Compare with the first book of Rousseau's Emile (Boston, 1885). 
Plato also says in the Bejmblic : "In every work the beginning is the 
most important part, especially in dealing with anything young and 
tender ; for that is the time when any impression, which one may 
desire to communicate, is most readily stamped and taken." 

16 



CHARACTER OF EARLY INSTRUCTION. 17 

lias grown crooked, or produce an orchard from a forest 
everywhere surrounded with briers and thorns. They ought 
themselves to know the methods of managing their children, 
according as they value them ; to the end that, under their 
own hands, they may receive increases of wisdom and grace 
before God and man. 1 

4. And inasmuch as every one ought to be competent to 
serve God and be useful to men, we maintain that he ought 
to be instructed in piety, in morals, and sound learning, 
and that parents should lay the foundations of these three 
in the very earliest age of their children. How far these 
need to be extended in the first six years must be severally 
shown. 

5. Piety, true and salutary, consists in these three 
things: 1. That our hearts, having ahvays and everywhere 
respect toivards God, should seek Him in all that we do and 
say and think. 2. Having discovered the steps of Divine 
Providence, our hearts should follow God always with rev- 
erence, love, and obedience. 3. And thus always and every- 
where mindful of God, conversing with God, our heart joining 
itself to God, it realizes peace, consolation, and joy. 

6. This is true piety, bringing a man to a paradise of 
divine pleasure, the foundations of which may be so im- 
pressed upon a boy within the space of six years, as that 
he may know, (1) that there is a God ; (2) who, being every- 
where present, He beholds us all ; (3) that He bestows abun- 
dantly, food, drink, clothing, and all things upon such as 
obey Him; (4) but punishes with death the stubborn and 

1 Frobel, in his Education of Man (New York, 1887), says : "It is 
highly important for man's present and later life that at this stage he 
absorbs nothing morbid, low, mean. . . . For, alas ! often the whole 
life of man is not sufficient to efface what he has absorbed in child- 
hood, the impressions of early youth, simply because his whole being, 
like a large eye, was open to them and wholly given up to them." 
c 



18 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

the immoral; therefore (5) that He ought to be feared, 
always to be invoked and loved as a father; and (6) that 
all things ought to be done which He commands; (7) and 
that, if we be good and righteous, He will take us to heaven. 
I maintain that an infant may be led on in these exercises 
until the sixth year of his age. 

7. Children ought to be instructed in morals and virtue, 
especially in the following: 1. In temperance, that they 
may learn to eat and drink according to the wants of nature ; 
not too greedily, or cram themselves with food and drink 
beyond what is sufficient. 2. In cleanliness and deco- 
rum, so that, as concerns food, dress, and care of the body, 
they may be accustomed to observe decency. 3. In respect 
towards superiors, whose actions, conversations, and instruc- 
tions they should learn to revere. 4. In complaisance, so 
that they may be prompt to execute all things immediately 
at the nod and voice of their superiors. 5. It is especially 
necessary that they be accustomed to speak truth, so that 
all their words may be in accordance with the teaching 
of Christ, "that which is, is; that which is not, is not." 
They should on no account be accustomed to utter false- 
hood, or to speak of anything otherwise than it really is, 
either seriously or in mirth. 6. They must likewise be 
trained to justice, 1 so as not to touch, move stealthily, with- 
draw, or hide anything belonging to another, or to wrong 
another in any respect. 7. Benignity ought also to be 
instilled into them, and a love of pleasing others, so that 
they may be generous, and neither niggardly nor envious. 
8. It is especially profitable for them to be accustomed to 
labor, as to acquire an aversion for indolence. 9. They 
should be taught not only to speak, but also to be silent 

1 In the Great Didactic Coinenius says : " Justice will be learned 
by doing harm to no one, by giving to each his own, by avoiding lying 
and deceit, by being generally serviceable and amiable." 



CHARACTER OF EARLY INSTRUCTION. 19 

when needful ; for instance, during prayers, or while others 
are speaking. 10. They ought to be exercised in patience, 
so that they may not expect that all things should be done 
at their nod; from their earliest age they should gradually 
be taught to restrain their desires. 11. They should serve 
their elders with civility and readiness. This being an 
essential ornament of youth, they should be trained to it 
from their infancy. 12. From what has been said, cour- 
teousness will arise, by which they may learn to show good 
behavior to every one, to salute, to join hands, to bend the 
knee, to give thanks for little gifts, etc. 13. To avoid the 
appearance of rudeness or levity, let them at the same time 
learn gravity of deportment, so as to do all things modestly 
and gracefully. A child initiated in such virtues will 
easily, as occurred in the case of Christ, obtain for itself 
the favor of God and man. 

8. As to sound learning, it admits of a threefold division ; 
for we learn to know some things, to do some things, and to 
say some things ; or rather, we learn to know, to do, and to 
say all things, except such as are bad. 

9. A child in the first six years may begin to know, 
1. Natural things, 1 provided it knows the names of the 
elements, fire, air, water, and earth; and learn to name rain, 
snow, ice, lead, iron, etc. Likewise trees and some of the 

1 Joseph Neef, the first to introduce Pestalozzian ideas in America, 
in his Plan and Method of Education says : "To unfold any faculty 
whatever, we must exercise it, and to exercise it we must possess 
means for exercising it ; and these means we have in abundance. Let 
us but open our eyes. The whole cabinet of nature, beings and ob- 
jects, animate and inanimate, obtrude themselves on us, and yet how 
neglected they are." 

Professor Preyer, of Germany, remarks: "The extraordinary in- 
citement which the direct observation of nature, and particularly of 
animate nature, gives during the whole season of childhood, nothing 
else can supply or make good." 



20 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

better known and more common plants, violets, grasses, and 
roses. Likewise, the difference between animals ; what is 
a bird, what are cattle, what is a horse, etc. Finally, the 
outward members of its own body, how they ought to be 
named, for what use designed; as the ears for hearing, the 
feet for running, etc. 2. Of optics, it will suffice for children 
to know what is darkness, what is light, and the difference 
between the more common colors, and their names. 3. In 
astronomy, to discern between the sun, moon, and stars. 
4. In geography, to know whether the place in which it 
was born and in which it lives be a village, a city, a town, 
or a citadel; what is a field, a mountain, a forest, a meadow, 
a river. 5. The child's first instruction in chronology will 
be to know what is an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year ; 
what is spring, summer, etc. 6. The beginning of history 
will be to remember what was done yesterday, what recently, 
what a year ago, what two or three years ago. 7. House- 
hold affairs, to distinguish who belongs to the family and 
who does not. 8. In politics, that there is in the state a 
chief ruler, ministers, and legislators, and that there are 
occasional assemblies of the nation. 

10. As to actions, some have respect to the mind and the 
tongue, as dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, and music; some 
respect the mind and hand, such as labors and corporeal 
actions. 1. The principles of dialectics may be so far 
imbibed as that a child may know what is a question, and 
what an answer, and be able to reply distinctly to a ques- 
tion proposed, not talking about onions when the question 
is garlic. 2. Arithmetic, the foundation of which will be 
to know that something is much or little, be able to count 
to twenty, or even all the way to sixty, and understand 
what is an even and what an odd number ; likewise that the 
number three is greater than two, and that three and one 
make four, etc. 3. In geometry, to know what is small or 



CHARACTER OF EARLY INSTRUCTION. 21 

large, short or long, narrow or broad, thin or thick; like- 
wise what is an inch, a foot, a yard, etc. 4. The child's 
music will be to sing from memory some little verses from 
the Psalms or hymns. 5. As to the mind and hand, the 
beginning of every labor or work of art is to cut, to split, 
to carve, to arrange, to tie, to untie, to roll up, and to unroll, 
such things as are familiar to all children. 1 

11. As to language, propriety is obtained by grammar, 
rhetoric, and poetry. 1. The grammar of the first six years 
in question will be that the child should be able to express' 
in his own language so much as it knows of things, even 
though it speak imperfectly ; 2 yet let it be to the point, and 
so articulated as that it may be understood. 2. Their rhet- 
oric will be to use natural actions, and, in case they hear, 
to understand and repeat a trope or a figure. 3. Their 
rudiments in poetry will be to commit to memory certain 
verses or rhymes. 

12. Care must be taken as to the method adopted with 
children in these things, not apportioning the instruction 
precisely to certain years or months (as will afterwards be 
done in the other schools), but in general only, for the fol- 
lowing reasons : 1. Because all parents cannot observe such 
order in their homes as prevails in public schools, where 
no unusual matters disturb the regular course of things. 
2. Because in this early age all children are not endowed 

1 Comenius was one of the first to recognize the educational value 
of manual training. " Learn to do by doing," was one of his cardinal 
maxims. Locke and Rousseau accepted this maxim. The former 
wrote : "I cannot forbear to say, I would have my gentleman learn a 
trade, a manual trade." 

2 Ascham quaintly remarks in the Schoolmaster (London, 1864) : 
" But if the childe miss, either in forgetting a worde or in changing a 
good with a worse or in misordering a sentence, I would not have the 
master either frowne or chide with him, if the childe have done his 
diligence and used no fro wardship therein." 



22 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

with equal ability, some beginning to speak in the first 
year, some in the second, and some in the third. 1 

13. I will therefore show, in a general way, how children 
should be instructed during the first six years: (1) in a 
knowledge of things; (2) in labors with activity; (3) in 
speech; (4) in morals and virtues; (5) in piety; (6) inas- 
much as life and sound health constitute the basis of all 
things in relation to men, it will be shown how, by diligence 
and care of parents, children may be preserved sound and 
healthy. 2 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Edgeworth's Practical Education, Chap. XX. ; Laurie's Primary 
Instruction in Belation to Education, Chap. I. ; Preyer's Mental De- 
velopment in the Child, Chap. I. ; Richter's Levana, Second Frag- 
ment, Chaps. I. , II. , and III. 

1 The student of education, familiar with the writings of Comenius, 
is constantly surprised at his familiarity with child-mind, — a famil- 
iarity not common among educational philosophers in our own day. 
How much more remarkable it must have been two and a half cen- 
turies ago ! 

2 Aristotle had previously declared : " The first care should be given 
to the body rather than to the mind." 



CHAPTER V. 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

1. A certain author advises that we ought " to pray for 
a sound mind in a sound body." x But we ought to labor as 
well as to pray, since God promises the blessings to the 
industrious, and not to the indolent. Inasmuch, however, as 
babies cannot labor, nor know how to pour out prayers to 
God, it becomes the parents to discharge this duty, so as to 
zealously train up what they have procreated to the glory 
of God. 

2. Above all things it should be the parents' first care to 
preserve the health of their offspring, since they cannot 
train them up successfully unless they be lively and vigor- 
ous ; for what proficiency can be made with the sickly and 
the morbid ? Inasmuch as this matter depends mainly upon 
mothers, 2 it seems requisite to counsel them for their sake. 

1 Montaigne in L 1 institution des Enfants (Paris, 1888) says: "I 
would have the youth's outward behavior and mien and the disposi- 
tion of his limbs formed at the same time with his mind. It is not 
a soul, it is not a body, that we are training up, but a man, and we 
ought not to divide him." 

2 Pestalozzi also maintains that the mother is the natural educator 
of the child. In Comment Gertrude Instruit ses Enfants (Paris, 1887), 
he says : "It is the main design of my method to make home instruc- 
tion again possible to our neglected people, and to induce every mother 
whose heart beats for her child to make use of my elementary exer- 
cises." Again in Christoph und Else (Berlin, 1869) : " A pious mother 
who teaches her own children seems to me the finest sight on earth." 

23 



24 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

3. The mother, bearing in mind that God, the creator of 
all things, began to form the offspring, should devote herself 
on that account even more to piety than formerly, beseech- 
ing God daily, with most ardent prayers, that He will bring 
to light, perfectly formed and sound, what she bears beneath 
her heart. 

4. Let matrons, therefore, be especially careful of them- 
selves, that they may in no respect injure their offspring. 
1. Let them observe temperance and diet, lest by excessive 
eating and drinking, or unreasonable fasting, by purgations, 
by blood-letting, by chills, etc., they fall into a condition of 
depression and liability to injure, or emaciate, or debilitate 
their offspring : they must therefore be particularly cautious 
against all excess during the period of carriage. 2. Let 
them not recklessly stagger, stumble, or strike against any- 
thing, or even walk incautiously ; because of any and all of 
these, the yet weak and infirm infant may be injured. 3. It 
is needful for the prospective mother to hold a tight rein 
over all her affections, so as to avoid incurring sudden fear, 
falling into excessive anger, or repining or distressing her- 
self in mind, etc. ; for unless she beware of these things she 
will have an infant timid, passionate, anxious, and mel- 
ancholy, and, what is worse, from sudden terror and excessive 
passion, it may be brought forth a lifeless abortion, or at 
least of very feeble health. 4. In respect of external actions, 
the mother should be careful not to indulge in excessive 
sleep, indolence, or torpor, but perform with all agility her 
usual employment, with all the promptitude and celerity of 
which she is capable; for as she then is, such will be the 
nature of her offspring. With respect to other matters, 
skilled physicians, nurses, and honorable matrons will sup- 
ply the necessary advice. 

5. Immediately upon the birth of the child let it be suit- 
ably cleansed and washed : let soft and warm fomentations 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 25 

be applied around it, and let the parent at once prepare suit- 
able food. And here it ought especially to be observed, that 
the mother herself ought to be the nurse, 1 and not to repel 
her own flesh, nor grudge to the infant the sustenance which 
she supplied to it prior to its birth. Oh, how grievous, how 
hurtful and reprehensible is the strange conduct of certain 
mothers (especially of the upper classes), who, feeling it irk- 
some to cherish their own offspring, delegate the duty of 
nourishing their offspring upon other women. This matter 
imposes the necessity of showing here the hard-heartedness 
of such culpability, and of showing how cautiously they 
ought to proceed in it ; for the deeper this custom has spread 
its roots and diffused itself, the greater the necessity of not 
passing it by in silence, especially here, when we purpose 
to show the benefit arising out of good order from the very 
foundation. 

6. I maintain, therefore, that this cruel alienation of 
mothers from their infants, by handing them over to be 
suckled with the milk of others (unless in some inevitable 
case, or when the mother is unable), is opposed, (1) to God 
and nature ; (2) hurtful to the children ; (3) pernicious to 
mothers themselves; (4) dishonorable, and deserving the 
highest reprobation. 

7. That such conduct is strongly opposed to nature is 
manifest from this : First, that no such thing is found in 
nature, not even among wild beasts : the wolf, the bear, the 

1 Vives, with whose educational writings Comenius was familiar, 
says in Be Institutione Femince Christiance (Basle, 1524): "The 
mother, like Cornelia, should regard her children as her greatest treas- 
ures. Where possible, she should nurse them herself. It is the most 
natural for mother and child and the surest foundation of the child's 
affections." Rousseau's injunction in the same connection is well 
known. He says : " Let mothers only vouchsafe to nourish their chil- 
dren, and our manners will reform themselves ; the feelings of nature 
will reawaken in all hearts." 



26 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

lioness, the panther, and other such ferocious animals, 
nourish their offspring with their own milk ; and shall the 
mothers of the human race be less affectionate than the dams 
of all these ? Does not God himself indicate this very thing 
in the lamentations of Jeremiah, saying, " The dragons make 
bare the breast and suckle their young ; the daughter of my 
people is cruel as the ostrich in the desert." How, I pray, 
can it agree with nature that they should thrust from them- 
selves that which is a part of themselves ? — that they should 
at last withdraw the milk from their own offspring, which 
during so many months they bore and nourished beneath 
their hearts ? God certainly gave not the milk for the use 
of the mothers, but of the children ; for those fountains never 
spring up save when offspring come to life : for whose sake 
then are they, unless they be for the new guests ? They, 
therefore, who can and do not suckle their own offspring, 
invert the Divine arrangements and transfer them to a dif- 
ferent purpose than that for which they were designed. 

8. Secondly, it contributes much to the health of the 
infants that they suckle the breast of their real mother, 
rather than of another ; inasmuch as before birth they were 
nourished with the maternal blood, daily experience wit- 
nesses that children might approach nearer to the disposi- 
tions and virtues of their parents than generally happens. 
Favorinus, not among the least celebrated of philosophers, 
shows, that as the milk of animals, by some occult virtue, 
possesses the power of fashioning the body and mind accord- 
ing to the form of its original ; and this he demonstrates by 
citing the case of lambs and kids, saying, "That lambs, 
nourished with the milk of goats, have milk much weaker 
than those sustained by the milk of the mother ; on the con- 
trary, kids nourished with the milk of sheep have wool much 
softer than those nourished by the milk of their dams." Who, 
then, unless he be blind, does not observe that infants, with 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 27 

the milk of the foster mother, imbibe morals other than 
those of their parents ? If married people do not permit 
their gardens to be sown with foreign seed, why do they 
allow their human plants to be irrigated with foreign water ? 
If the father has communicated his nature to the offspring, 
why should the mother deny to it her nature ? * Why admit 
a third person to perform that ? God, moreover, has united 
only two persons, as sufficient for producing offspring, and 
why should we not acquiesce in His will ? If this custom 
can be admitted at all, it can only be in two special cases. 
First, should the mother of the infant be laboring under 
some contagious disease, in order to preserve the sound 
health of the infant and to prevent its contracting any taint 
of the contagion, it may be entrusted to another nurse. 
Second, if the mother be of such corrupt morals as to oc- 
casion obstruction to the virtue of the infant, providing a 
nurse of upright morals and piety can be found, I should not 
deny that in order to secure the graceful endowments of the 
mind, the infant may be entrusted to her. Inasmuch, how- 
ever, as in these times even honorable, noble, and pious 
matrons deliver their recently born offspring to worthless, 
disreputable, and impious women, sometimes in a much more 
feeble state of health than themselves, such practice can ad- 
mit of no excuse ; for their beloved offspring becomes thus 
exposed to certain contagion of both body and mind. As- 
suredly under such circumstances, parents have no reason to 
wonder that their children become altogether dissimilar to 
themselves in morals and the affairs of life, and that they 
walk not in their steps, — since according to a proverb com- 
mon among the Romans, " Wickedness is imbibed with the 
milk." 

9. Thirdly, as delicate mothers of this kind are afraid, 

1 Marcus Aurelius maintained that he inherited modesty from his 
father and feelings of piety from his mother. 



28 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

that if they should take charge of their children, they may 
lose something of their symmetry or elegance of form. It 
frequently happens, on the contrary, that they incur the loss, 
not only of their customary rest and beauty, but also of their 
health ; since, when they reject their own sucking infants, 
they reject their physicians, who usually free the mothers 
of superfluous humors and occult diseases, — as the philoso- 
pher, Favorinus, has shown at considerable length. Plu- 
tarch 1 deemed it necessary to compose a book for the especial 
purpose of counselling mothers in the duties to which by 
God and nature they are destined ; and Aulus Gellius has 
left it upon record "that such women are not worth the 
name of mothers who decline the fulfillment of what God 
and nature enjoined upon them; and for such he antici- 
pates evils of every kind." 

10. Fourthly, it violates maternal honor for mothers to 
refuse the breasts to their own children. 2 Didacus Apoleph- 
tes calls such not mothers, but step-mothers, saying, that 
many prefer the burdens of wealth rather than to carry their 
own offspring in their bosom ; and many blush more at car- 
rying their own offspring, than a dog or a squirrel in their 
arms. What animal, I pray, is so savage as to entrust its 
own young to others ? Nay, a race of animals is said to 
exist in which the male contests with the female for the 
privilege of caring for the offspring. Birds, likewise, al- 
though they occasionally produce six and more young ones 
at a time, and God has not supplied them with milk for 
their offspring, yet they do not desert them, but f eed % and 
cherish them with all possible care. 

1 Plutarch's essay on the training of children is perhaps the oldest 
authenticated book on infant education. 

2 Rousseau is said to have made it fashionable for mothers to nurse 
their own children ; but a century and a half before him Comenius 
tried to do the same thing. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 29 

11. As to the evil that may arise if some unsuitable nurse, 
and not the mother, suckle the infant, I will prove by exam- 
ple from three of the Eoman emperors. 1. Titus, having 
had a diseased nurse, was throughout life subject to illness, 
as Lampridius avers. 2. Caligula was a ferocious beast in 
human form. The cause of this, however, was not attribu- 
table to his parents, but to the nurse whose breast he had 
sucked, who, besides being grossly immoral and impious, 
used to sprinkle her breasts with blood and then present 
them to him to suck. From this cause he became of a dis- 
position so ferocious, that he not only delighted in shedding 
human blood, but also, without the least feeling of aversion, 
he licked it with his tongue when adhering to the sword. 
He even dared to wish that all mankind had but one neck, 
in order that they might be cut off with a stroke. 3. Tibe- 
rius was exceedingly fond of wine, for his nurse was not only 
herself a wine-bibbing and drunken woman, but also accus- 
tomed him from early life to the use of the juice of the 
grape. 1 

12. Hence it is evident that no little depends on what 
kind of a nurse 2 one has, not only with regard to the body, 
but also to the mind and morals ; for if a nurse be affected 
with any manifest or secret disease, the infant will also be 
subject to it. "If she be unchaste, untruthful, a pilferer, or 
is drunken or passionate, you can expect no other morals 
from the infant, which, with the milk, imbibes the seeds of 
all these evils." — Didacus Apolephtes. 

13. Let the above suffice for the present. Pious and pru- 

1 Quintilian remarks in this connection: "New vases preserve the 
taste of the first liquor that is put into them, and wool, once colored, 
never regains its primitive whiteness." 

2 Jean Paul Richter says : " If we regard all life as an educational 
institution, a circumnavigator of the world is less influenced by all 
the nations that he has seen than by his nurse." 



30 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

dent parents, anxious for the safety of their offspring, will 
know how to use these admonitions. 

14. When at length the infants may be accustomed gradu- 
ally to other aliment, it must be begun prudently with such 
nutritious substances as approximate to their natural aliment 
— mainly soft, sweet, and easy of digestion. It is extremely 
hurtful (as is the custom with many) to accustom infants to 
medicine ; because by this means obstruction is occasioned 
to natural digestion in the stomach, and consequently to 
their growth. For medicine and food are in their nature 
opposites ; the latter supplies the body with blood and vital 
humors, whereas the former opposes, by drying them up and 
expelling them ; besides, medicine taken when not required 
becomes a habit of nature and loses its power, so as to be 
useless in the time of need, from being assimilated to nature. 
Nay, what is still worse, infants used to medicine from their 
tender years, never attain perfect strength and sound health, 
being rendered feeble, sickly, infirm, pale-faced, imbecile, 
cancerous ; finally, they anticipate fate and die prematurely. 

15. Wherefore, Oh beloved parents, if you would be num- 
bered among the wise, just as you would avoid giving them 
poison, so avoid giving medicine to your children except in 
cases of necessity. Avoid also drink and food warm and 
acrid in their nature, such as dishes seasoned largely with 
pepper or salt. He who feeds his offspring with such food, 
or refreshes them with such drink, acts in the same manner 
as an imprudent gardener, who, being desirous that his plants 
should grow and nourish quickly, in order to warm the roots, 
covers them with lime. No doubt such plants will increase 
and put forth buds, but they will soon begin to become arid 
and dwindle away; and, while they seem to be nourishing, 
perish at the root. If you doubt this, make the experiment, 
and you will find how insalubrious these nutriments are for 
children. God has assigned and ordained milk as food for 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 31 

children and other tender creatures ; consequently they ought 
to be nourished on it. As soon, however, as- they can be 
withdrawn from milk, let them have food of a similar nature, 
duly tempered, bread, butter, pottage, pot herbs, water, and 
a very light ale ; thus they will grow like plants by the run- 
ning stream, only indulging them in duly regulated sleep, fre- 
quent playful amusements, bodily movements, and, above all, 
commending their health and safety in pious prayers to God. 

16. Hence the Spartans, 1 once the wisest of mortals, 
surpassed all the nations of the earth in paying special 
attention to the education of their youth. It was strictly 
provided by the public statutes that none of their youth 
should be allowed to taste wine before their twentieth year. 
Since wine was thus strictly denied to their youth, what, I 
pray, should we say respecting that maddening drink, re- 
cently discovered to the ruin of the human race, namely, 
wine and brandy, with which both old and young are 
equally burnt up ? It is time, truly, that we learn to be 
cautious, lest we corrupt and destroy our children. 

17. In other respects, also, the health of children should 
be most carefully watched, since their little bodies are weak, 
their bones soft, their veins infirm, and none of their mem- 
bers as yet mature and perfect. Consequently, they need 
prudent circumspection as to the manner in which they 
should be taken in the hand, lifted up, carried, set down, 
wrapped up, or laid in the cradle, lest through any impru- 
dence they be injured by falling down, or striking against 
any thing, whereby they may lose sight or hearing, or be- 
come lame or maimed. 2 

1 For accounts of Spartan education Mahaffy's Old Greek Education 
(N. Y., 1882), Davidson's Aristotle and the Ancient Educational Ideals 
(N. Y., 1892), and Compayre^s History of Pedagogy (Boston, 1886). 

2 "To be in good health," says M. Compayre\ the distinguished 
French writer on education, " to be vigorous and robust, to be skillful 



32 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

A child is a more precious treasure than gold, but more 
fragile than glass. It may be easily shaken and injured, 
and be irreparably damaged. 

18. When infants begin to sit, to stand, or to run about, 
to prevent injury from striking against anything, there is 
need of little seats, knee-splints, and little carriages, always 
beginning with the smallest. In some countries the prac- 
tice prevails of putting upon the heads of infants a little 
cap padded on the inside with rolls of cotton, so that in the 
event of falling, their heads may be preserved from injury ; 
a precaution quite applicable to other members also. 1 Let 
suitable clothing and warm covering in winter defend them 
from cold and atmospheric changes. To express the matter 
in a few words, let their health sustain no damage from 
bruises, from excess of heat or cold, from too much food or 
drink, or from hunger or thirst. Observing that all these 
be attended to with moderation. 

19. It is likewise beneficial to observe due order: for 
example, how often children should be put to rest in the 
course of the day, and fed, and refreshed with play ; 2 since 
this conduces much to health and becomes the basis of sub- 
sequent regularity of conduct. Although this may appear 
frivolous to some minds, yet it is certainly true that infants 

with the hands and the fingers, and, if we can, to he beautiful and to 
remedy as far as possible those infirmities which disfigure and deform 
— such are the demands of physical education." 

1 His two illustrious followers, Locke and Rousseau, in a process of 
hardening children, took issue with Comenius on this point. But 
Comenius believed in moderation in all things. 

2 "Play," observes Jean Paul Richter, "is the working off at once 
of the overflow of both mental and physical powers ; afterwards when 
the school scepter has carried off the mental source of all fire, 
even till rain comes, the limbs only throw off the fullness of life by 
running, throwing, carrying. Play is the first poetry of the human 
being." 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 33 

may be sufficiently inured to decorous and agreeable order, 
as is manifested by example. 

20. Inasmuch, as our life consists in vital heat, and 
natural fire, unless it have a thorough draft of air, and 
repeated agitation, soon goes out, it is in like manner neces- 
sary that infants have their daily exercises and amusements. 
And, for this purpose, before children are able to move 
themselves and run about, the devices of rocking the cradle, 
carrying about, transferring from place to place, and being 
drawn in vehicles, were adopted. But when the little ones 
are somewhat advanced and begin to take to their feet, they 
may be allowed to run and do this or that little matter (at 
the beck of the mother or nurse). The more a child is thus 
employed, runs about and plays, the sweeter its sleep, the 
more easily does its stomach, digest, the more quickly does 
it grow and flourish, both in body and mind; care being 
only taken that it in no way injures itself. Therefore a 
place should be found in which children may run about and 
exercise themselves with safety. And the proportion of 
this exercise that may be allowed without injury must be 
shown ; and guardians of health, nurses, and baby carriers 
must be procured. 

21. Finally, according to the proverb, a joyful mind is 
half health. 1 The joy of the heart is the very life-spring of 
man ; in this also parents ought to be especially careful 
never to allow their children to be without delights. For 
example, in their first year, their spirits should be stirred 
up by rocking in the cradle, by gentle agitation in the arms, 

1 Hannah More in her Strictures on Female Education (London, 
1799) gives similar advice : "Do not give her a gloomy and discourag- 
ing picture of the world, but rather seek to give her a just and sober 
view of the part she will have to take in it. There is, happily, an 
active spring in the mind of youth which bounds with fresh vigor and 
uninjured elasticity from temporary depressions." 



34 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

by singing, by rattles, by carrying through some open place 
or garden, or even by kisses and embraces. Let all these 
things, however, be done with circumspection. In the sec- 
ond, third, and fourth years, let their spirits be stirred up 
by means of agreeable plays with them, or their playing 
among themselves, by running about, by chasing one an- 
other, by music, and any agreeable spectacle, as pictures, 
etc. 1 And to express myself in general, whatever is found 
to be either agreeable or pleasing must, on no account, be 
denied the child. Nay, if some little occupations can be 
conveniently provided for its eyes, ears, or other senses, 
they will contribute to the vigor of body and mind. Such 
things only ought to be denied as are adverse to piety and 
upright morals. As to the rest, more will be said in its own 
place. 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Blow's Symbolic Education, Chap. V. ; Edgeworth's Practical Edu- 
cation, Chaps. I., II., and III. ; Malleson's Early Training of Children, 
Chap. VIII. ; Marwedel's Conscious Motherhood, Chap. X.; Richter's 
Levana, Appendix to the Third Fragment ; Rousseau's Emile, Book I. 

1 Frobel remarks : " The plays of the child contain the germ of the 
whole life that is to follow ; for the man develops and manifests him- 
self in play, and reveals the noblest aptitudes and the deepest elements 
of his being. The whole life of man has its source in that epoch of 
existence, and whether his life is serene or sad, tranquil or agitated, 
fruitful or barren, depends on the care given to the beginnings of 
existence. ' ' 



CHAPTER VI. 

NATURE AND THOUGHT STUDIES. 1 

1. "Being the tender son of my father (says Solomon, 
the wisest of mortals) and the beloved of my mother* he 
taught me, instructing me that wisdom is the beginning of 
all things, and that prudence must be acquired and secured 
as a complete possession." It will therefore be the prudence 
of parents, not only to provide that their children have the 
means of living, and possess competent fortunes, but they 
ought also to labor with all their means, that their minds 
may be imbued with wisdom. "For wisdom is more pre- 
cious than gems and pearls, and all things which are desired 
cannot be compared with it; length of days is in her right 
hand, and in her left are riches and glory; her ways are 
beautiful and all her paths are peaceful; the tree of life 
is to them who have apprehended her, and they who pos- 
sess her are blessed." These are the words of the Holy 
Spirit. 

2. Do parents consider well when these exercises of wis- 
dom should be begun with children ? Solomon says that he 

1 In the present chapter Comenius considers the studies which fur- 
nish the materials of thought, — the elements of science, optics, astron- 
omy, geography, history, economics, politics, and stories. In the next 
chapter he discusses the studies which furnish the symbols of thought, 
— language, writing, drawing, arithmetic, geometry, and music. This 
classification is suggestive of his notions of content and form — ques- 
tions now agitating the educators in this country. 

35 



36 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

was instructed by his father immediately from infancy, and 
although he was the beloved son of his mother, yet that did 
not interfere with his education. Our children, therefore, 
may be instructed in the knowledge of natural things 1 and 
other matters : but how is it to be done ? Just as their 
tender age permits, i.e. according to their capabilities, as is 
apparent from the following instances : — 

3. The natural knowledge of recently born infants is to 
eat, drink, sleep, digest, and grow ; but these things do not 
affect their intellect. In the second or third year, they 
begin to apprehend what papa and mamma is, what food 
and drink are ; and, shortly after this, they begin to under- 
stand what that is which we call water, what fire, what 
wind, what cold, what heat, what a cow is, what a little dog 
is ; and the general varieties of natural things. 2 This their 
nurse-maids will instill into them, when caressing them in 
their arms, or while carrying them about, by saying, " Look, 
there is a horse, there is a bird, there is a cat," etc. In 
their fourth, fifth, and sixth years, they may begin to make 
further progress in additional knowledge of natural things, 3 

1 With the possible exception of Bacon, no writer before Comenius 
appreciated more fully than he the value of nature studies for little 
children ; and the object-teaching of Pestalozzi and elementary sci- 
ence in America may be traced to Transylvania, Hungary, where 
nature study first received formal consideration in the schools con- 
ducted by Comenius during the middle of the sixteenth century. 

2 Joseph Priestley, the distinguished scientist of the eighteenth 
century, says in his Observations relating to Education (New Lon- 
don, 1796): "Though the teaching of nature is slower than the 
teaching of art, it is more effectual because the actual experience 
of acting is more sensibly felt, and consequently makes a deeper 
impression." 

3 Science for little children received a strong impulse from Comenius. 
He asks: "Do we not dwell in the Garden of Eden as well as our 
predecessors ? Why should not we use our eyes, and ears, and noses 
as well as they ; and why need we other teachers than these in learn- 



NATURE AND THOUGHT STUDIES. 37 

so as to be able to tell what a stone is, what sand is, what 
clay is, what a tree, what a branch, what a leaf, what a 
blossom, etc. Likewise to know certain fruits, such as 
a pear, an apple, a cherry, a bunch of grapes, etc. Also to 
call by their proper names the external members of their 
bodies, and, in some measure, to know their uses. In this 
matter their father, mother, and attendants may often be 
occupied, instructing them by showing them this thing or 
that, and desiring them to name it, by saying, "What is 
this?" "The ear." — "What do you do with it?" "I 
hear." — " And this, what is it ? " " The eye." — " For what 
use is the eye ?' J1 " That I may see." — " How is this 
named ? " " The foot." — " What is it for ? " " That I may 
walk," etc. 

4. The beginning of optics 2 will be to look up at the light, 
a thing natural to children ; for the instant it becomes 
visible, they turn their eyes to it. They must, however, be 
watched, and not be permitted to look with fixed eyes on 
excessive light and brilliance, strongly affecting the power 
of vision, especially at first, lest that power be weakened, or 
extinguished by overstraining. Let them have the means 
of seeing moderate light, especially of a green color, and 
gradually anything that shines. In the second or third 

ing to know the works of nature ? Why should we not, instead of 
these dead books, open to the children the living book of Nature ? 
Why not open their understanding to the things themselves, so that 
from them, as from living springs, many streamlets may flow ? " 

1 Professor Earl Barnes in his experimental studies with many 
thousand California children has demonstrated that one of the very 
first interests of the child in things is' the use. Comenius evidently 
appreciated the same truth. 

2 Comenius advocated the teaching of physics, and himself wrote 
and published a book on the subject the same year that the School of 
Infancy appeared. The editor was shown a copy of this work recently 
by Professor Hanus in the library of Harvard University. 



38 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

year optical exercises will be presented to their contempla- 
tion, colored and pictured objects ; show them the beauty 
of the heavens, of trees, of flowers, and of running waters ; 
how to bind corals to their hands and neck, and supply 
them with beautiful dress, etc. ; they delight in gazing at 
these things ; nay, the sight of the eye and acuteness of the 
mind are stimulated even by looking in a mirror. In the 
fourth and following years many things ought to be added 
to optics ; they should occasionally be taken into an orchard, 
a field, or a river, that they may be allowed to look upon 
animals, trees, plants, flowers, running waters, the turning 
of the windmills, and similar things ; * nay, pictures in books, 2 
upon the walls, etc., are pleasing to them, and therefore 
ought not to be denied ; for children ought rather to have 
them designedly presented to them. 3 

5. Children may, in the second or third years at the far- 
thest, learn the elements of astronomy, by looking at the 
heavens, and distinguishing between the sun, moon, and 
stars. In the fourth and fifth year, they will be able to 
understand that the sun and moon rise and set; that the 
moon sometimes shines full, sometimes is a half moon, and 
sometimes a crescent moon. This may and ought to be 
shown to them. In the sixth year they may incidentally 
be instructed that the days are shorter in winter, that the 
night is then longest; whereas in summer the day is long 
and the night short. 

1 Rabelais long before had written: "All the birds of the air, all 
the trees, shrubs, and fruits of the forest, all the grasses of the earth 
— none of these should be unknown to the child." 

2 And Comenius prepared the first illustrated school-book for 
children, the Orb is Pictus, an excellent edition of which Mr. C. W. 
Bardeen has lately prepared for American teachers. 

3 Jean Paul advises: "Open a child's eye more than his heart to 
the beauties of nature ; the latter opens naturally in its season, and 
sees farther and more beauties than you can place before it." 



NATURE AND THOUGHT STUDIES. 39 

6. The elements of geography 1 will begin clnring the 
course of the first year, when children commence to distin- 
guish their cradles and the maternal bosom. In the sec- 
ond and third year, the geography will be to know the place 
where they are nursed, etc., in which they ought to learn 
when to eat, when to go to rest, or when to go out, where 
the light is, and where the heat is to be found. In their 
third year, they will advance in geography when they re- 
member the distinctions and names not only of the nursery, 
but also of the hall, of the kitchen, of the bed-chamber, of 
things which are in the house, in the stable, in the orchard, 
and in and around the home. In the fourth year they 
may, by going abroad, learn the way through the street or 
market-place, by going to the suburbs, to their uncle, to 
their grandmother, their aunt, or their cousin. In the fifth, 
and sixth years, they may fix all such things in the mem- 
ory, and learn to understand what a city is, what a village, 
what a field, what a garden, what a forest, what a river, etc. 

7. Children ought also to be taught the distinctions of 
time, namely, that one time is day and another time is 
night. Likewise what is morning, what is evening, what 
noonday, what midnight. Then, how often during the day 
they should eat, sleep, or pray. Then let them, moreover, 
know that a week consists of seven days, and what days 
follow each other ; that six are common days but the seventh 
the Lord's day; that on that day outward labor should be 
discontinued, the place of worship attended, and divine ser- 
vice engaged in. That solemn festivals occur thrice in a 
year; the birth of Christ in winter; Easter in spring; and 

1 Comenius was the first of the early educators to recognize the 
importance of geography as a subject of study ; and largely through 
the influence of his writings, Germany has given it important consid- 
erations in all her schemes of education. And to-day in no country 
of the world is geography better taught than in the German schools. 



40 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

Pentecost or Whitsuntide in summer; that wheat is gath- 
ered in autumn, etc. All these things, although children 
of themselves may understand and remember them, yet 
nothing hinders the parent from talking to them about 
such things, according to the occasions and opportunities. 

8. Children ought to be exercised in history, 1 and in the 
remembrance of things, as soon as they begin to talk; at 
first by such simple questions as, Who gave this to you? 
Where did you go yesterday? When will be Wednesday? 
Let the child answer, At my grandfather's, at my grand- 
mother's, at my aunt's, etc. What did they give you? 
What did your grandfather promise to give you? etc. 
Other things will fix themselves in their memories; only 
there is need of circumspection, in order, as the youthful 
memory begins to store away treasures for itself, that it 
may lay up nothing but that is good and useful in obtaining 
virtue and promotive of the fear of God; all things of a 
contrary kind ought never to be permitted to meet their 
eyes or their ears. 

9. The first and following year will be the beginning of 
economics (i.e. the due performance of household matters); 
for children then begin to distinguish their fathers, mothers, 
and nurses, and afterwards others in the house. In the 
third, they will learn that father and mother rule, and that 
others obey. In the fourth and fifth, let them begin to 
learn carefulness, which is their clothing for holidays, and 
which for common days ; and let them be careful not to stain 
or tear their clothes, or sweep the floor with them. Then 
they will easily discover the use of chests, presses, closets, 
cupboards, bolts, bars, and keys, namely, that all may not 
have access to these places. They may learn to know the 
necessary domestic furniture by seeing it, or they may learn 

1 Vives had previously expressed similar sentiments. 



NATURE AND THOUGHT STUDIES. 41 

it by familiar talk with their parents or nurses, or older 
brothers and sisters. It will greatly contribute to this, if 
children have for their plays wooden horses, tables, little 
seats, dishes, pots or pans, cows, sheep, little carriages, 
mattocks, etc., and not for amusement only, but also for pro- 
moting their knowledge of things. For this method will 
teach the youth according to their own way, and by pre- 
senting these little things before their eyes, they will not be 
ignorant of the greater things which they represent. 

10. The political knowledge needful for these first years 
is indeed but little; for although they hear the names of 
sovereigns, governors, consuls, legislators, judges, etc., yet 
inasmuch as they do not visit the places where these func- 
tionaries perform, they cannot comprehend them, and could 
not if they did, inasmuch as they exceed their capacity. 
There is no necessity, therefore, to take them to such places. 
For it will be sufficient, if they be accustomed to the rudi- 
ments of political intercourse. Comprehending little by 
little whom they ought to obey, whom to venerate, whom to 
respect (of this matter we afterwards make mention under 
morals), as rational conversation may arise with the father, 
the mother, or the family. For example, when any one calls 
them, to remember that they are bound to stand still and 
learn what is desired; also to reply gracefully to questions, 
although these may be jocular. For we may be agreeably 
occupied in gently exciting this youthful age, saying this 
or that playfully with them, for the purpose of sharpening 
their intellect. They ought therefore to be taught, and that 
thoroughly, to understand what is said in a joke, and what 
seriously, and at the same time to know when to return a 
joke with a joke; and again, when the discourse is really 
serious, how to be serious accordingly ; this they may easily 
learn from the expression of the countenance, and from the 
gesture of the person indicating or commanding anything, 



42 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

provided their instructors know how to manage their dis- 
positions, and do not joke on every occasion with children, 
without observing the proper time, especially during serious 
matters, such as prayer or admonition or exhortation. When 
children are disposed for jesting, they should not be frowned 
at or be angrily used or beaten. For by such means the mind 
of a child becomes distracted, so as not to know in what way 
this or that is to be understood. He who wishes a boy to 
become prudent, must himself act prudently with him, 1 and 
not make him foolish or stupid before he enables him to 
understand what he ought to do. 

11. It greatly sharpens the innate capacity of children to 
be exercised with apologues, stories about animals, and 
other ingeniously constructed fables; for with such little 
narratives they are pleased, and they easily remember them. 
Moreover, as some moral principle is generally included in 
these ingeniously constructed parables, they become of two- 
fold use to children ; for while they occupy their minds, they 
instill something into them which may afterwards be profit- 
able. 2 

12. So much respecting the rational instruction of chil- 
dren in the knowledge of things. I shall add one more 
suggestion. Although the parents and attendants may be 
of great service to children in all these matters, yet children 
of their own age are of still greater service. When they 
play together, children of about the same age, and of equal 
progress and manners and habits, sharpen each other more 

1 As the poet has expressed the same thought : — 

" O'er wayward childhood wouldst thou hold firm rule, 
And sun thee in the light of happy faces ? 
Love, hope, and patience — these must be thy graces, 
And in thine own heart they must first keep school." 

2 Fe"nelon for similar reasons advised the use of stories and fables 
with young children. 



NATURE AND THOUGHT STUDIES. 43 

effectually, 1 since the one does not surpass the other in 
depth of invention ; there is among them neither assumption 
of superiority of the one over the other, nor force, dread, or 
fear; but love, candor, free questionings and answers about 
everything; all these are defective in us, their elders, when 
we have intercourse with children, and this defect forms a 
great obstruction to our free intercourse with them. 2 

13. No one will therefore doubt that one boy sharpens 
the genius of another boy more than any one else can ; con- 
sequently, boys should meet daily together, and play to- 
gether or run about in open places; and this ought not 
merely to be permitted, but even provided for, with the 
precaution, however, that they do not mingle with depraved 
associates, causing more injury than benefit; against liabil- 
ity to this, thoughtful parents may easily guard, by care- 
fully observing the kind of society in the neighborhood, 
and thus not permitting their offspring to be contaminated. 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Edgeworth's Practical Education, Chaps. XIII. and XIV. ; Fene- 
lon's Education of Girls, Chap. V. ; Laurie's Primary Instruction in 
Belation to Education, Chap. III. ; Marwedel's Conscious Mother- 
hood, Chap. X.; Preyer's Mental Development in the Child, Chap. VI.; 
Rousseau's Emile, Book III. 

1 Quintilian, in the Institutes of Oratory (London, 1886), had written 
in a similar strain in presenting the claims of public schools over pri- 
vate instruction. He says: "The mind requires to be continually 
excited and aroused. By private instruction it will either languish, 
contract, and rust, or become swollen with empty conceit, since he 
who compares himself to no one else will necessarily attribute much 
to his own powers." 

2 Jean Paul Richter says : "If men are made for men, so are chil- 
dren for children, only much more beautifully. In their early years 
children are to one another only the completion of their fancy about 
one plaything : two fancies, like two flames, play near and in one 
another, yet ununited. Moreover, children alone are sufficiently child- 
like for children." 



CHAPTER VII. 

. ACTIVITY AND EXPRESSION. 

1. Boys ever delight in being occupied in something, 
for their youthful blood does not allow them to be at rest. 1 
Now as this is very useful, it ought not to be restrained, but 
provision made that they may always have something to do. 
Let them be like ants, continually occupied in doing some- 
thing, carrying, drawing, construction, and transposing, pro- 
vided always that whatever they do be done prudently. They 
ought to be assisted, by showing them the forms of all things, 
even of playthings ; for they cannot yet be occupied in real 
works, and we should play with them. We read that The- 
mistocles, supreme ruler of the Athenians, was once seen 
riding with his son on a long reed as a horse, by a young 
unmarried citizen; and observing that he wondered how so 
great a man could act so childishly, he begged of him not to 
relate the incident to any one until he himself had a son, — 
thus indicating that when he became a father, he would be 
better able to understand the affection of parents for their 
children, and that he would cease to be surprised at the con- 
duct which now seemed to him childish. 2 

1 The regulation of the spontaneous activity of children, a cardinal 
principle in the Kindergarten, is here suggested. Its founder wrote : 
"Be this especially noted with reference to unfolding and improving 
natural activity in the production of outward results ; that is, to foster 
industry — love of bodily work." 

2 Emerson observes: "Life is a train of moods like a string of 
beads, and as we pass through them, they prove to be many-colored 

44 



ACTIVITY AND EXPRESSION. 45 

2. Inasmuch as children try to imitate what they see 
others do, 1 they should be permitted to have all things, 
excepting such as might cause injury to themselves, such 
as knives, hatchets, and glass. When this is not convenient, 
in place of real instruments they should have toys procured 
for their use ; namely, iron knives, wooden swords, plows, 
little carriages, sledges, mills, buildings, etc. With these 
they may amuse themselves, thus exercising their bodies to 
health, their minds to vigor, and their bodily members to 
agility. They are delighted to construct little houses, and 
to erect walls of clay, chips, wood, or stone, thus display- 
ing an architectural genius. In a word, whatever children 
delight to play with, provided that it be not hurtful, they 
ought rather to be gratified than restrained from it; for 
inactivity is more injurious to both mind and body than 
anything in which they can be occupied. 

3. Now advancing according to their years, in the first 
year they will have sufficient mechanical knowledge for 
children, if they learn why they open their mouths for 
food, hold up their heads, take anything in their hands, 
sit, stand, etc. ; all these things will depend rather on nature 
than nurture. 

4. In the second and third years their mechanical knowl- 
edge may be extended; for now they begin to learn what it 
is to run, to jump, to agitate themselves in various ways, to 
play, to kindle and extinguish, to pour out water, to carry 
things from place to place, to put down, to lift up, to lay 
prostrate, to cause to stand, to turn, to roll together, to 
unroll, to bend, to make straight, to break, to split, etc. ; 

lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows only 
what lies in its focus." 

1 Rousseau says : ' ' Children who are great imitators all try to draw. 
I should wish my child to cultivate this art, not exactly for the art 
itself but to make the eye correct and the hand supple. ' ' 



46 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

all these things ought to be allowed, nay, when opportunity 
serves, they ought to be shown them. 

5. The fourth, fifth, and sixth years will and ought to 
be full of labors and architectural efforts ; for too much sit- 
ting still or slowly walking about on the part of a child is 
not a good sign; to be always running or doing something 
is a sure sign of a sound body and vigorous intellect ; there- 
fore, whatever attracts their attention, that ought not to be 
denied, but rather be given them ; that which is done should 
be properly done, and with a view to future usefulness. 

6. Children in this maternal school ought also, in their 
fourth and fifth year, to be exercised in drawing and writ- 
ing, 1 according as their inclination may be noticed or 
excited, supplying them with chalk (poorer persons may 
use a piece of charcoal), with which they may at their will 
make dots, lines, hooks, or round O's, of which the method 
may be easily shown, either as an exercise or amusement. 
In this way they will accustom the hand to the use of the 
chalk, and to form letters, and they will understand what 
a dot is, and what a little line, which will afterwards 
greatly abridge the labors of the teacher. 

7. In this stage dialectics (reasoning), beyond the natu- 
ral, or such as is obtained in practice, cannot be introduced f 

1 Richard Mulcaster said in his Positions (London, 1887), fifty 
years before : " As judgment by understanding is a rule to the minde 
to discerne what is honest, seemly and suitable in matters of the mind, 
so drawing with penne or pencile is an assured rule for the sense to 
judge by, of the proportion and seemliness of all aspectable thinges." 

2 In this as in most other matters Comenius opposed the practice of 
the Jesuits and agreed with Plato " that whenever boys taste dialectic 
for the first time, they pervert it into an amusement, and always em- 
ploy it for purposes of contradiction, and imitate in their own persons 
the artifices of those who study refutation, — delighting, like puppies, 
in pulling and tearing to pieces with logic any one who comes near 
them." 



ACTIVITY AND EXPRESSION. 47 

but in whatever manner those persons conduct themselves, 
who associate with children, whether rationally or irration- 
ally, such will the children be. 

8. The elements of arithmetic can scarcely be propounded 
to children in the third year; but soon they can count up 
to five or ten, or at least pronounce the numbers correctly; 
they may not at first understand what those numbers 
really are, but they will of themselves observe the use to 
which this enumeration is applied. In the fourth, fifth, 
and sixth years it will be sufficient if they count up to 
twenty in succession, and be able clearly to distinguish that 
seveu is more than five, and fifteen more than thirteen; 
what is an even and what an odd number, which they may 
easily learn from the play which we call odds and evens. 
To proceed farther than this in arithmetic would be unprofit- 
able, nay, hurtful; for nothing is so difficult to fix in our 
minds as numbers. 1 

9. About the second year the principles of geometry 2 
may be perceived, when we say of anything it is large or 
small ; they will afterwards know easily what is short or 
long, wide or narrow. In the fourth year they may learn 
the different forms ; for example, what is a circle, what are 
lines, what a square. At length they may learn the names 
of the common measures, such as a finger's breadth, a span, 
a foot, a pint, a quart, a gallon. Whatever comes spontane- 
ously to their own knowledge, they themselves should be 
shown how to measure, to weigh, thus comparing the one 
with another standard of measurement. 

1 La Salle, the founder of the Brethren of the Christian Schools, 
was of similar mind. 

2 Rousseau has advised likewise. In America we are just beginning 
to realize the possibilities of geometry with young children. On this 
subject see Speer's Form Lessons (Englewood, 1888), and Hanus' 
Geometry in the Grammar School (Boston, 1893). 



48 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

10. Music is especially natural to us ; for as soon as we 
see the light we immediately sing the song of paradise, thus 
recalling to our memory our fall, A, a ! E, e ! I maintain 
that complaint and wailing are our first music, 1 from which 
it is impossible to restrain infants ; and if it were possible, 
it would be inexpedient, since it contributes to their health ; 
for as long as other exercises and amusements are wanting, 
by this very means their chests and other internal parts 
relieve themselves of their superfluities. External music 
begins to delight children at two years of age ; such as sing- 
ing, rattling, and striking of musical instruments. They 
should therefore be indulged in this, so that their ears and 
minds may be soothed by concord and harmony. 2 

11. In the third year the sacred music of daily use may 
be introduced; namely, that received as a custom to sing 
before and after dinner, and when prayers are begun or 
ended. On such occasions they ought to be present, and 
to be accustomed to attend and conduct themselves com- 
posedly. It will also be expedient to take them to pub- 
lic worship, where the whole assembly unites in singing 

1 Richter says in Levana (London, 1886) : "In the childhood of 
nations speaking was singing. Let this he repeated in the childhood 
of the individual. In singing, harmony and heart coalesce at the same 
time in one breast. . . . With what arms can a parent more closely 
and more gently draw the little beings toward him, than with his 
spiritual ones, with the tones of his own heart, with the same voice 
which always speaks to them, but now transfigured into a musical 
ascension ? " Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow in Child and Child Culture 
(London, 1879), remarks : " Savages, like children, have the keenest 
desire for song and dance — i.e. for rhythmic sounds and movements 
. . . and music is before all other arts the awakening of the heart." 

2 Plato remarks in this connection : " Rhythm and harmony sink 
most deeply into the recesses of the soul, and take most powerful 
hold of it, bringing gracefulness in their train, and making man 
graceful if he be rightly nurtured, but if not, the reverse." 



ACTIVITY AND EXPRESSION. 49 

the praises of God. In the fourth year it is possible for 
some children to sing of themselves ; the slower ones, how- 
ever, ought not to be forced, but permitted to have a whistle, 
a drum, or pipes, so that by whistling, drumming, and 
piping they may accustom their ears to the perceptions of 
various sounds, or even to imitate them. In the fifth year 
it will be time to open their mouths in hymns and praises 
to God, and to use their voices for the glory of their 
Creator. 

12. These things parents, in singing or playing with 
children, may easily instil into their minds; the memory 
is now more enlarged and apt than previously, and will, 
with greater ease and pleasure, imbibe a larger number of 
things in consequence of the rhythm and melody. The 
more verses they commit to memory, the better will they be 
pleased with themselves, and the glory of God be largely 
promoted. Blessed is the home where voices resound with 
music. 1 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Blow's Symbolic Education, Chap. V. ; Edgeworth's Practical 
Education, Chaps. XV., XVI., XVII., and XVIII. ; Laurie's Primary 
Instruction in Belation to Education, Chap. III. ; Malleson's Early 
Training of Children, Chap. IV. ; Necker de Saussure's Progressive 
Education, Book III., Chap. III. ; Richter's Levana, Third Fragment, 
Chaps. III., IV., and V. ; Rousseau's Emile, Book II. 

1 Plato remarks : " The truly musical person will love those who 
combine most perfectly moral and physical beauty, but will not love 
any one in whom there is dissonance." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

USE OF LANGUAGE. 

1. Two things preeminently distinguish men from 
brutes, — reason and speech. 1 Man needs the former on 
his own account, the latter for the sake of his neighbor. 
Both, therefore, equally demand our care, so that man may 
have his mind and tongue equally trained, and exercised 
as well as possible. We now, therefore, add something 
respecting instruction in language, such as when and how 
the principles of grammar, rhetoric, and poetry ought to 
be propounded. The beginnings of grammar appear in 
certain children as early as their first half-year ; generally, 
however, towards the end of the year, when certain letters 
in their language begin to be formed, such as a, e, i; or 
even syllables, such as ba, ma, ta, etc. But in the follow- 
ing year complete syllables begin to be formed, when they 
try to pronounce whole words. It is usual to propose to 
them the easier words to be pronounced, such as tata, mama, 
papa, and nana; and there is need to do this, for nature her- 
self impels them to begin with easier words, since the man- 

1 Comenius was the first of the great reformers to recognize the 
need of training in the mother-tongue and to separate the infant from 
the Latin schools. " The schools have failed," he wrote, " and instead 
of keeping to the true object of education, they have neglected even 
the mother-tongue and confined themselves to the teaching of Latin." 

50 



USE OF LANGUAGE. 51 

ner adopted by adults in pronouncing father, mother, food, 
drink, etc., is difficult to be pronounced by infants' tongues, 
just becoming loose. 

3. As soon, however, as their tongues begin to be more 
supple, it is hurtful to indulge them in this practice, which 
may thus lead them to speaking lispingly; and if this prac- 
tice be allowed, when children come to learn longer words, 
and at length to speak, they will be required to unlearn 
what they had before learned incorrectly. Why should not 
the mother, sister, or attendant, when amusing children, 
freely open the mouths and teach them to pronounce letters 
and syllables properly, distinctly, articulately, or even 
entire words, beginning always with the shorter? This 
will be sufficient grammar for the second year, which exer- 
cise may be continued all along to the third year, but because 
of the dullness of some children moderation is occasionally 
necessary. 

4. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth years, the language 
will increase with increase in the knowledge of things, 1 
provided exercise is not omitted, so that they may be accus- 
tomed to name whatever they see at home, or whatever they 
are employed in. They should often be asked, What is 
this? What are you about? What is this called? always 
taking care that they pronounce the answers distinctly; in 
this respect no further instruction is necessary, unless to 
please them by intermingling some playfulness; for ex- 
ample, who can pronounce better and quicker than the 
others any such long words as Taratantara, Constantino- 
politan, etc. 

5. The principles of rhetoric arise in the first year, and 
indeed in a great measure intuitively by gestures; for as 

1 Comenius had the correct notion that ideas of things must precede 
words ; and accordingly he provides extended nature studies to precede 
the word-learning period. 



52 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

long as the intellect and powers of speech in this early age 
remain in their deep roots, we are accustomed to draw them 
to the knowledge of ourselves by certain gestures and exter- 
nal actions ; for example, when we lift them up, put them 
to rest, show them anything, or smile upon them ; by all 
these things we aim at this, that they in their turn should 
look at us, smile, reach out their hand to take what we give 
them. And so we learn naturally to understand first by 
gesture and then by speech, even as we do with the deaf 
and dumb. 1 I maintain that a child in its first and second 
year is able to understand what a wrinkled and what an 
unwrinkled forehead mean, what a threat indicated by the 
finger means, what a nod means, what a repeated nod 
means, etc., which in truth is the basis of rhetorical 
action. 

6. About the third year children begin to understand and 
imitate actions, according to gestures, occasionally ques- 
tioning, sometimes expressing admiration. On the doctrine 
of tropes, while they are endeavoring to understand the 
proper meaning of words, they cannot perceive much, yet 
they may learn them, if in their fifth and sixth years they 
hear any such from their equals in age or from their atten- 
dants. There is, however, no need of solicitude as to their 
understanding them, since they will have sufficient time 
afterwards for those higher and ornamental words. My 
only aim here is to show, although this is not generally 
attended to, that the roots of all sciences and arts, in every 

1 In Comenius' day the deaf were taught by signs and gesture. 
To-day in all the better institutions in America and Europe, deaf 
children are taught to articulate and read the lips. The editor has 
conversed with many such children — notably in the Horace Mann 
School in Boston and the National Institutions at Leipzig and Paris — 
whose voices were so natural and whose lip-reading so accurate as to 
have easily mistaken them for hearing children. 



USE OF LANGUAGE. 53 

instance, arise as early as this tender age ; and that on these 
foundations it is neither difficult nor impossible for the 
whole superstructure of rhetoric to be laid, provided always 
that we act reasonably with reasonable creatures. 

7. Almost the same may be said of poetry, which binds, 
and, as it were, entwines language in rhythm and measure. 
The principles of poetry arise with the beginning of speech; 
for as soon as the child begins to understand words, at the 
same time it begins to love melody and rhythm. 1 There- 
fore nurses, when a child, from having fallen or injured 
itself, is wailing, are wont to solace it with these or similar 
rhymes: 2 — 

" My dear baby, O sweet baby, 
Why did you go and run away ? 
This has come from going astray ; 
If baby had been sitting still, 
It never would have suffered ill." 

This pleases infants so much that they not only become 
immediately quiet, but even smile. The nurses also, pat- 

1 Mr. Albert E. Winship, in his little booklet The Shop (Boston, 
1889), remarks: "The keynote of home is rhythm, which means 
comfort. ... It can neither be tested by rule nor taught by 
methods." 

Plato, in the Republic, observes: "Good language and good har- 
mony and grace and good rhythm all depend upon a good nature, by 
which I do not mean that silliness which by courtesy we call good 
nature, but a mind that is really well and nobly constituted in its 
moral character." 

2 Jean Paul remarks: "The error of prematurely introducing a 
child to the treasures of poetry can only arise from the aesthetic mis- 
take of believing the spirit of poetry to consist less in the whole, than 
in its variously scattered, dazzling charms of sound, pictures, events, 
and feelings ; for these, a child has naturally a ready ear. Rhyme 
delights both the most uncultivated and the youngest ear." 



54 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

ting them with the hand soothingly, chant to them these or 
similar lines : — 

" Dearest baby, do not weep, 
Shut your pretty eyes to sleep ; 
Go to bye bye, baby dear, 
And forget your pain and fear." 1 

8. In the third and fourth year some such rhymes 
may be beneficially taught; nurses, when playing with 
children, may sing to them, not only to prevent their cry- 
ing, but also to fix them in the memories for future 
benefit; for example, in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years 
it will increase the knowledge of poetry by committing 
to memory pious little verses; of this, however, I after- 
wards treat among the exercises of piety in the tenth 
chapter. Although they may not at this time understand 
what rhythm or verse is, yet by use they learn to note a cer- 
tain difference between measured language and prose; nay, 
when in due time everything shall be explained in the 
schools, it will afford them pleasure to find that they had 
previously learned something which they now understand 
the better. Childish poetry, therefore, consists in their 
knowing some rhymes and verses; for children can under- 
stand what is rhythm and poetry, and what is plain speech. 
So far, then, should they study their own language, and in 
its various degrees of progress be exercised during the first 
six years. 2 

1 In Heart of Oak, Book I. , edited by Professor Charles Eliot 
Norton, and published by D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, mothers and 
teachers will find many well-selected rhymes especially suitable for 
this early period of childhood. 

2 As already noted, Comenius was at variance with the schoolmas- 
ters of the Renaissance, who substituted Latin from the first for the 
mother-tongue. Against this practice he protested vigorously. Mul- 
caster in England and Ratich in Germany had previously made similar 



USE OF LANGUAGE. 55 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Frobel's Pedagogics of the Kindergarten, Chap. XIV. ; Marwedel's 
Conscious Motherhood, Chaps. VI. and VII. ; Necker de Saussure's 
Progressive Education, Book II., Chap. VI. ; Preyer's Mental Devel- 
opment in the Child, Chap. VII. 

protests. The latter wrote : ' ' First let the mother-tongue be studied, 
and teach everything through the mother- tongue, so that the learner's 
attention may not be diverted to the language." Again : " To learn 
Latin before learning the mother-tongue is like wishing to mount a 
horse before knowing how to walk." 

The Port Royalists also joined in this protest against the humanists. 
They wrote : "People complain, and complain with reason, that in 
giving their children Latin we take away French ; and to turn them 
into citizens of ancient Rome, we make them strangers in their native 
land." 



CHAPTER IX. 

MORAL TRAINING. 

1. What those external virtues are, in which youth 
ought to be exercised in their early years, I have enumer- 
ated already in the fourth chapter. Now I will explain 
how it behooves to be prudently and properly accomplished. 
In case it should be asked how any age so tender 1 can be 
accustomed to these serious things, my reply is, even as a 
young and tender tree can be bent so as to grow this way or 
that much more easily than a full-grown tree, so youth can 
be exercised in the first years of their lives, more readily 
than afterwards, to good of every kind, provided legitimate 
means be used ; and these are : (1) a perpetual example of 
virtuous conduct; (2) properly timed and prudent instruc- 
tion and exercise; (3) duly regulated discipline. 

2. It is necessary that children should have presented 
before them a perpetual good example, 2 since God has im- 
planted in them a certain imitative principle, namely, a 
desire to imitate what they see others do. So much so, that 

1 Pestalozzi says in this connection: "The child at his mother's 
breast is weaker and more dependent than any creature on earth, and 
yet he already feels the first moral impressions of love and gratitude. 
Morality is nothing but a result of the development of the first senti- 
ments of love and gratitude felt by the child." 

2 "The end," says Seneca, "is attained sooner by example than 
by precept," and Plutarch observes: "That contemplation which is 
disassociated from practice is of no utility." 

66 



MORAL TRAINING. 57 

although you never desire a boy to do a certain thing, if 
you do or say that thing in his presence you will see that 
he will try to do the same; and this perpetual experience 
confirms. For this reason, there is need of the greatest 
circumspection in the home where there are children, so 
that nothing be done contrary to virtue; but let the whole 
house observe temperance, cleanliness, and neatness, due 
respect for superiors, mutual complaisance, truthfulness, 
etc. 1 If this were diligently observed, there would cer- 
tainly be no necessity for many words to teach, or blows 
to enforce. But inasmuch as grown-up persons themselves 
often fall into excess, it is no wonder that children should 
also imitate what they see in others. 

3. Instruction, however, and that properly timed and 
prudent, must accompany example. 2 It will be a suitable 
time for teaching children by words, when we discover 
that examples have not sufficiently profited them, or when 
they really desire to conduct themselves according to the 
example of others, but yet fail of doing it properly. In 

1 Plato has observed : u To him who has an eye to see there can be 
no fairer spectacle than that of a man who combines the possession of 
moral beauty in his soul with outward beauty of form, corresponding 
and harmonizing with the former, because the same great pattern 
enters into both." 

2 Comenius here gives expression to a thought which the editor 
believes must some day find acceptance in the public schools of this 
country ; namely, provision in our courses of study for specific and 
formal moral instruction. Germany and England provides religious 
instruction, France requires instruction in ethics, but in many states 
of the Union religious instruction is not allowed and ethical instruc- 
tion not provided. In England and Germany assuredly the smaller 
number of religious denominations makes religious instruction pos- 
sible ; but the editor believes that the larger and broader ethical 
instruction in France to be more wholesome than the specific denom- 
inational instruction in Germany. And this broad ethical instruction 
is possible where all shades of religious opinion may be represented. 



58 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

such, case, it will be commendable to admonish them to 
conduct themselves in this or that way, by saying, "Look, 
consider how I do. See how father or mother does it. 
Do not do such things. Be ashamed of yourself. Behave 
yourself. If you behave so, you will never become an 
excellent young man. Street beggars and bad people do 
so," etc., or the like. It is not yet expedient to have 
recourse to lengthened admonition, or discourse on this or 
that matter which will be of no use to them afterwards. 

4. Occasionally there is need of chastisement, in order 
that children may attend to examples of virtue and admoni- 
tion. Now, there are two degrees of discipline. The first, 
that a boy be rebuked if he does anything unbecoming; 
prudently, however, not so as to strike him with awe, but 
to move him to fear, and to a recollection of himself. 
Occasionally, more severe chidings and putting to shame 
may be added ; and, immediately after an admonition not 
to do a certain thing, the admonition may be accompanied 
with threatening. If, however, you admonish him, it will 
be good, at once, or a little while after, to praise him ; for 
much benefit results from prudent commendation or blame, 
not only to children, but to grown-up persons. If this first 
step of discipline should prove to be ineffectual, the next 
will be to use the rod, or a slap of the hand, in order that 
the boy may recollect himself and become more attentive. 1 

5. And here I cannot refrain from severely reprimanding 
the shallow-brained mockery of affection in certain parents, 
who, conniving at everything, permit their children to grow 
up altogether without correction or discipline. Such parents 
tolerate their children to commit every kind of evil ; to run 
about in all directions, to borrow, to sell, to shout, to howl 
without a cause, to report upon their elders, to stick out 

1 In the Great Didactic Comenius advocates severe forms of pun- 
ishment for offenses against morals only. 



MORAL TRAINING. 59 

their tongues at others, and to act in every way without 
restraint ; and then to excuse them by saying, " He is a 
child, he ought not to be irritated, he does not yet under- 
stand those things." But you, the parents yourselves, are the 
children of stupidity, if, discovering this want of knowledge 
in your child, you do not promote its knowledge ; for it was 
not born to remain a calf, or a young ass, but to become a 
rational creature. Know you not what the Scriptures de- 
clare : " Folly is bound to the heart of a young man, but it 
is driven from him by the rod of chastisement " ? Why 
do you prefer the child's being detained in its natural fool- 
ishness, rather than to rescue it from its folly, by the aid of 
well-timed, holy, and salutary discipline ? Do not persuade 
yourselves that the child does not understand ; for it under- 
stands how to exercise frowardness, to be angry, to rage, to 
grin, to puff out its cheeks, to be rude to others ; assuredly 
it will also know what is a rod and its use. 1 Right reason 
does not fail the reason, but imprudent parents neither know 
nor care to know what will contribute to the comfort of 
themselves and their children. For how comes it that the 
majority of children afterwards become refractory to their 
parents, and distress them in various ways, unless it be that 
they had never been disciplined to reverence them ? 

6. Most truthful is the saying: "He who attains to 
manhood without discipline, becomes old without virtue." 
For it behooves that the Scripture be fulfilled 2 which affirms 

1 Locke, Rollin, and the Port Royalists, as well as many other of the 
early authorities on education, discourage the use of the rod. Quin- 
tilian considers the use of the rod a token of had teaching (1) because 
it is servile and degrading, (2) after a time even this form of punish- 
ment loses its effect, and (3) if the teacher does his duty in exciting 
interests, there will be no need of its use. 

2 Doubtless Comenius' theology had much to do with coloring his 
views on education. The ill-timed advice of Solomon, referred to by 



60 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

that "the rod and chastisement confer wisdom, but a froward 
young man affects his mother with shame." The wisdom 
of God advises, " Chastise thy son, and he will bring rest 
unto thee, and procure pleasure for thy soul." When parents 
fail to obey this counsel, they get neither pleasure nor rest 
from their children, but disgrace, shame, affliction, and in-' 
quietude. Hence we often hear such complaints of parents : 
"My children are disobedient and wicked; this one has 
fallen from the faith, the other is a spendthrift, reckless, 
and a glutton." And is it strange, my friend, that you reap 
what you have sown? You have sown in their minds licen- 
tiousness, and do you hope to reap the fruits of discipline ? 
This would indeed be marvelous. For a tree that is not 
engrafted cannot bear the fruit of the grafting. Labor 
ought to have been bestowed that the tender tree should 
be planted, duly inclined, and made' straight, so as not to 
have grown so gnarly. But as most persons neglect dis- 
cipline, there is -no wonder that youths everywhere grow 
up froward, impetuous, and impious, provoking God and 
distressing the parents. A certain wise man has said that, 
" although an infant seems to be an angel, yet it requires 
the rod." Did not Eli himself lead a pious life ? Did 
he not give pious instruction to his sons ? But because he 
spared effectual discipline, it happened ill to him ; for by 
his undue lenity, he brought much sorrow upon himself, the 
wrath of God upon his house, and the extinction of his whole 
race. Bearing on our subject, this : Dr. Geyler, a celebrated 
pastor of the church of Strasburg, two centuries ago, repre- 
sented such parents under the following emblem : " Children 
tearing their own hair, puncturing themselves with knives, 
and their fathers sitting by them with veiled eyes." 

Comenius in this paragraph, influenced very lately his notions of 
corporal punishment, and not only the notions of Comenius, but edu- 
cators generally down to our own day. 



MORAL TRAINING. 61 

7. Hitherto I have spoken generally ; now I proceed to 
give instructions as to the above-mentioned virtues specifi- 
cally, how they may be exercised in children easily, pru- 
dently, and decorously. 

8. Temperance and frugality claim the first place for 
themselves, inasmuch as they constitute the foundation of 
health and life, and are the mothers of all other virtues. 
Children will become accustomed to these, provided you in- 
dulge them in only so much food, drink, and sleep as nature 
demands. For other animals, following only the leading of 
nature, are more temperate than we; therefore children 
ought to eat, drink, and sleep only at the time when na- 
ture disposes them so to do, namely, when they appear to 
suffer from hunger or thirst, or to be oppressed for sleep. 
Before this is discovered, to feed them, to give them drink, 
to put them to sleep, to cram them even beyond their will, 
to cover them up or to compel them to sleep, is madness. 
It is sufficient for them that such things be supplied them 
according to nature. Care must be taken that their appetites 
be not provoked by pastry or any innutritious delicacies ; for 
these are the oiled vehicles which carry in more than is nec- 
essary, and the stomach is enticed to eat more than enough. 
Such things are really enticements to luxurious living. For 
although it may not be improper to occasionally give chil- 
dren something savory, yet to make their food of sweetmeats 
is as destructive to health (as shown in the fifth chapter) as 
it is to sound morals. 

9. Immediately, in the first year, the foundations of clean- 
liness and neatness may be laid, by nursing the infant in as 
cleanly and neat a way as possible, which the nurse will 
know how to do, provided she is not destitute of sense. In 
the second, third, and following years, it is proper to teach 
children to take their food decorously, not to soil their fingers 
with fat, and not, by scattering their food, to stain them- 



62 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

selves ; not to make a noise while eating (swinishly smack- 
ing their lips), not to put out the tongue, etc. ; also how 
to drink without greediness, without lapping, and without 
splattering themselves. Similar cleanliness and neatness 
may be exacted in their dress : not to sweep the ground with 
their clothes, and not designedly to stain and soil them, 
which is usual with children by reason of their want of 
prudence; and yet parents, through remarkable stupidity, 
connive at such things. 

10. They will easily learn to respect superiors, provided 
their elders take diligent care of them, and attend to them- 
selves ; therefore if you admonish, or frequently rebuke and 
chastise a child, you need not fear that it will not respect 
you. But if you allow everything to children, a practice 
followed by many who excessively love them, nothing is 
more certain than that such children will become froward 
and obstinate. "To love children is natural, to disguise 
that love is prudence." Not without prudence has Ben 
Sirach left it on record, "that an untamed horse will be- 
come unmanageable ; a son neglected will become head- 
strong. Humor a son and he will cause you fear; play 
with him and he will make you sad ; do not laugh with him 
lest you also grieve with him, and in the end your teeth 
gnash." It is better, therefore, to restrain children by dis- 
cipline and fear than to reveal to them the overflowing of 
your love, and thus open as it were a window to f rowardness 
and disobedience. 1 It is also useful to grant even to others 
the power of rebuking children, so that not only under the 

1 Herbart, in the Science of Education (Boston, 1895), remarks: 
11 Supervision, prohibition, restraint, checking by threats, are only the 
negative measures of education. The old pedagogy betrayed its weak- 
ness in nothing so much as in its dependence on compulsion, the 
modern in nothing so much as the value it places on supervision. 
Hindrance of offense is only good when a new activity continually 
takes the place of that which is restrained." 



MORAL TRAINING. 63 

eye of their parents, but wherever they are, they may be 
accustomed to have due regard to themselves, and by this 
means to cause modesty and due respect for all men to take 
root in their hearts. Assuredly they act altogether without 
circumspection, nay, with extreme imprudence, who allow 
no one even to look upon their children with an unfavora- 
ble eye ; if any one should counsel them, he becomes the 
advocate of their own children, even in their very presence. 
Otherwise their warm blood, even as it spirits up a horse, 
gives loose reins to licentiousness and haughtiness. Let 
there be, therefore, great caution. 

11. Youth ought to be instructed with great care as to 
actual obedience, since it is afterwards to become the 
foundation of the greatest virtue, when children learn to 
restrain their own wills and obey the will of another. We 
do not permit a tender plant to grow spontaneously, but we 
bind it to a prop ; that, so bound, it may the more readily 
raise its head and acquire strength. Hence it has been most 
truthfully said by Terence : " We are all the worse for ex- 
cessive liberty." As often, therefore, as father or mother, 
addressing a child, says : " Touch not that ; — sit still ; — 
put aside that knife ; — put away this or that " — children 
should be accustomed to do at once what is commanded of 
them; and if any obstinacy appears in them, it may be 
easily subdued by rebuke or prudent chastisement. 

12. We read that the Persians observe with the greatest 
diligence the training of children in " temperance and truth- 
fulness," and not without cause, since falsehood and hypoc- 
risy render any person detestable both before God and man. 
"Lying," says Plutarch, "is a slavish vice, and ought to 
be vehemently condemned by all men." In respect of God, 
Scripture testifies that, " False lips are an abomination to 
Him." Children ought therefore to be compelled, in case 
they commit any fault, humbly to confess it, and not obsti- 



64 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

nately to deny it ; and on the other hand not to say what 
really is not true. For this reason Plato forbids fables and 
fictitious stories being recited to children, for he maintains 
that they should be led directly to truth. 1 I do not know 
how that can be approved which certain persons do, who 
habitually instruct children to transfer the blame upon 
others when some evil is committed by themselves, and 
who derive jest and pleasure from accomplishing it. But 
who except the boy becomes really injured ? If he become 
accustomed to interchange lies and jokes, of course he learns 
to lie. 

13. Failure in respect of justice, a desire for the property 
of others, does not greatly attach to this early age, unless 
the nurses themselves, or those who have the charge of chil- 
dren, introduce this corruption; and this occurs if, in the 
presence of children, any one stealthily takes away things 
belonging to another, and conceals or secures food for them- 
selves clandestinely, or induces another to do the same; 
whether it be done in jest or in earnest, such children as 
see it will imitate it, being in this respect really little apes ; 
for whatever they see, they remember and they do it, too. 
Nurses, and such as have charge of children, ought, in the 
highest degree, to be cautious in these matters. 

1 The reference is to the Bepublic of Plato, which Rousseau declared 
to be the finest treatise ever written on education, and which Comenius 
himself held in high regard. Plato says : "Our first duty will be to 
exercise a superintendence over the authors of fables, selecting their 
good productions and rejecting the bad. And the selected fables we 
shall advise our nurses and mothers to repeat to their children, that 
they may thus mold their minds with the fables, even more than 
they shape their bodies with the hand." Again : " Whatever at that 
age is adopted as a matter of belief has a tendency to become fixed 
and indelible ; and therefore, perhaps, we ought to esteem it of the 
greatest importance that the fictions which children first hear should 
be adapted in the most perfect manner to the promotion of virtue." 



MORAL TRAINING. 65 

14. Children will be able gradually to learn and prac- 
tice benignity and beneficence towards others in these early 
years, if they see alms distributed by their parents among 
the poor, or even if they themselves are ordered to bestow 
them; 1 likewise if they be occasionally taught to impart 
something of their own to others; and when they do so, 
they ought to be praised. 

15. The early Church Fathers used to say, and most truly 
that "Indolence is Satan's cushion"; for whoever Satan 
finds entirely unemployed he will be sure to occupy him, 
first, with evil thoughts, and afterwards with shameful 
deeds. It is the office of prudence to allow no man, even 
from his earliest years, to be idle ; but by all means exercise 
the child with assiduous labors, that thus a door to the most 
destructive tempter may be closed. I know labors which 
the shoulders of children can bear, although they were noth- 
ing more (which cannot really be the case) than mere play. 
" It is better to play than to be idle, for during play the 
mind is intent upon some object which often sharpens the 
ability." 2 In this way children may be early exercised to 
an active life, without any difficulty, since nature herself 
stirs them up to be doing something. But of this I have 
already spoken in the seventh chapter. 

16. As long as children are learning to speak, so long 
they should be free to talk as they like, and to prattle 
freely. When they have acquired the use of speech, it is 
of the highest importance for them to learn to keep silence ; 
not as if I wished to make them statues, but rational little 

1 See in this connection the practice of the good woman Gertrude 
in Pestalozzi's Leonard and Gertrude. 

2 Frobel ordinarily is given chief credit for emphasizing the educa- 
tional value of play. Comenius, however, is entitled to no small 
credit in this connection. The importance of play with young chil- 
dren finds expression again and again in his writings. 



66 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

images. " Whosoever thinks silence to be a thing of little 
importance," says Plutarch, " is scarcely of a sound mind " ; 
because to keep silence prudently is the beginning of sound 
wisdom ; for, assuredly keeping silence hurts no one, whereas 
talking has injured many ; and even though no injury were 
sustained, yet since both of these qualities — namely, to 
speak and to keep silence — constitute the foundation and 
ornament of all our conversation throughout life, they ought 
to be so closely united that we may at the same time acquire 
the habit of both. Parents ought to accustom their chil- 
dren to keep silence. In the first place, during prayer and 
divine service, whether at home or in public, children should 
sit quietly; and no running about, shouting, or making a 
noise should, at such times, be allowed them. Children 
should also learn to attend silently to the orders of their 
father and mother in everything. The other benefit of 
keeping silence is with a view to well-ordered speech, so 
that before the speaker replies to any question, children 
may consider what the matter is, and how to speak rea- 
sonably; for to utter whatever comes uppermost is folly, 
and it is not becoming in those whom we desire to see intel- 
ligent beings. However, I incessantly repeat that these 
things should be done as far as the age permits, and which 
circumspect parents should attend to with the greatest care. 
17. A child may contract a habit of patience, provided 
that excessive softness and immoderate indulgence be care- 
fully avoided. In some children, as early as their first and 
second year, the vice of an evil inclination begins to appear, 
which it is best to remove with the roots, as we do thistles ; 
for example, a child of a perverse and obstinate disposition 
labors hard by crying and wailing to obtain what it has set 
its heart upon; another displays anger, malevolence, and 
desire of vengeance by biting, kicking, and striking. Inas- 
much as these affections are preternatural, and incidentally 



MORAL TRAINING. 67 

spring up, parents and attendants should use the greater 
care to suppress them in the very germ ; this is easier to be 
done, and is much more beneficial at this very early age 
than afterwards, when the evil has struck deep root. It is 
vain to say, as some are wont to do, "It is a child, it does 
not understand." Such persons I have already shown to be 
without understanding. No doubt we cannot root out un- 
profitable plants as soon as they appear above ground, inas- 
much as we cannot yet distinguish them rightly from the 
genuine plant, or grasp them with the hand; nevertheless, 
it is true that we ought not to wait until the weeds have 
become full grown, for then the nettle stings worse, the 
thistle pricks sharper, and the good shrubs and the useful 
plants will be choked and perish; moreover, when these 
brambles have once strongly taken root, force becomes need- 
ful to pull them up, and often the roots of the standing corn 
are pulled up too. Therefore, as soon as weeds, nettles, and 
thistles are discovered, root them out at once, and the true 
crop will come forth so much the more abundantly. If you 
observe a child desirous of eating more than is necessary, or 
cramming itself with honey, sugar, or fruit, see that you be 
wiser than it, by not permitting such things; and having 
removed the cause of the mischief, occupy the child with 
something ; x never mind its crying, it will cease when it has 
cried enough, and will discontinue the habit later with great 
advantage. In like manner, if a child inclines to be fretful 
and froward, do not spare it; rebuke it, chastise it, set aside 
the thing for which it calls ; by this means it will at length 
understand that your will is to be obeyed and not its own 
pleasure. A child of two years old is sufficiently advanced 
for this exercise, with this Caution, however, that it be in no 

1 The German philosopher Kant says : " Ward off the bad influences 
from without, and nature can be trusted to find for herself the best 
way." 



68 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

way hurt or have its anger excited, lest you open up to the 
child a way to condemn your exhortations and chastisements. 

18. There is no need of great effort to accustom children 
to services and officiousness, since of themselves they gen- 
erally take hold of everything, provided they are not pre- 
vented and be taught how to do so properly. Let the father 
or mother therefore enjoin it upon them, to execute immedi- 
ately some service, which they of themselves or through 
another may do, saying — " My child, give that to me, — 
carry this — place it upon the desk, — go call Johnnie, — tell 
Annie to come to me, — give this to that little begging 
child, — run to grandmamma, — bid her good-bye for me, 
and say that I asked how she is. Come back again as soon 
as you can"; — and all such things as are suitable to their 
increasing years. Children ought also to be trained in 
alacrity and agility, so that when anything is enjoined upon 
them, they, leaving their play and everything else, should 
with the greatest promptitude execute the order. This 
promptness in obeying superiors may be learned from their 
earliest years, and will afterwards be of very great impor- 
tance to them. 

19. Respecting civility of manners, 1 parents can instruct 
their children as far as they themselves know. There is no 
need of a great amount of instruction in this respect. The 
child is amiable which conducts itself courteously and 
respectfully, both toward its parents and others. This is 
born with certain children, whereas others require training, 
consequently it must not be neglected. 

20. That courteousness and amiability may not be irra- 

1 Of manners Emerson says : " It js a spontaneous fruit of talents 
and feelings of precisely that class who have most vigor, who take the 
lead in the world of this hour, and, though far from pure, far from 
constituting the gladdest and highest tone of human feeling, is as 
good as the whole society permits it to be." 



MORAL TRAINING. 69 

tional, they should be tempered with modesty and serious- 
ness. The little story of the ass may illustrate this: 
" Once upon a time, an ass seeing a little dog caressing its 
master with its tail and leaping upon his bosom, the ass 
attempted to do the same, and for this civility got a cudgel- 
ing." This story may be told to children, that they may 
remember what is due to every one. Children should be 
exercised so as to know what is becoming and what other- 
wise, both in external gestures and motions ; how to sit 
straight, to stand upright, to walk decorously, not bending 
•their limbs or staggering, or lounging. In case they need to 
ask for anything; how to return thanks when it is given; 
how to salute any one they meet ; and when they salute 
how to bend the knee or stretch forth the hand ; how, when 
they speak to superiors, to take off their hats, and many 
other things that appertain to the good and honorable, of 
which we need not speak more at length. It is sufficient 
here to have incidentally noticed some of these matters of 
conduct. 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Adler's Moral Instruction of Children, Chaps. I.-X. ; Edgeworth's 
Practical Education, Chaps. VI. -XL ; Laurie's Primary Instruction 
in Relation to Education, Chaps. VI. and VII. ; Malleson's Early 
Training of Children, Chaps. VI. -IX. ; Necker de Saussure's Pro- 
gressive Education, Book III., Chap. II. ; Perez's First Three Years 
of Childhood, Chaps. X., XL, and XII. ; Richter's Levana, Third 
Fragment, Chaps. VI. and VII. , and Sixth Fragment, Chaps. I.-IV. 



CHAPTER X. 

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 

1. " Kejoice not in impiouc children. If they be multi-. 
plied rejoice not over them; since the fear of God is not in 
them. For it is better to die childless, than to have impi- 
ous children." So said the wise son of Sirach. Above all 
things, parents should be careful to imbue their children 
with truth, and not be satisfied with merely outward piety; 
apart from this, knowledge and manners, however refined, 
may be more injurious than beneficial; just as a knife, a 
sword, or a hatchet in the hand of a maniac, the sharper it 
is, the more dangerous it becomes. 

2. In the first and second years, because of their tender 
age, 1 and from the reasoning faculty not yet being devel- 
oped in children, little can be effected in this matter beyond 
what God, through nature and His own internal grace, 
effects; still, by some means, the beginning of our duty 
towards them and of theirs towards God must be laid, so 
that we may cooperate, as far as we can, with God and 
nature. For although we cannot teach piety to new-born 

1 Comenius, like Fenelon, recognized that reason was necessary for 
religious instruction. The latter, in VEducation des Filles (Paris, 
n. d.), says: "We have already remarked that early infancy is not 
adapted to the exercise of the reasoning faculty on account of the 
limited knowledge of children. We should, nevertheless, endeavor, 
without placing their faculties under unnatural restraint, gently to 
turn the first exercise of their reason to the knowledge of God." 

70 



RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 71 

infants, we can, by exercising piety in them, lay in them the 
foundation of piety, through prayer and by surrendering 
them, in holy dedication, to Christ the Redeemer, implor- 
ing likewise for them the care of the Eternal Teacher, the 
H^ly Spirit. 

3. As soon as parents are aware that God wills to grant 
them a child, they should, with ardent prayer, solicit from 
Him blessing and sanctification for their offspring. The 
expectant mother, accompanied by her husband, ought 
daily, without intermission, to pour out prayer to that 
effect, and to live through the whole period of her time 
piously and holily, that the offspring, having a place already 
within their hearts, may share with them in the beginning 
the fear of God. 

4. After God has brought His gift from darkness to 
light, and presented it to their eyes, the parents (as a cer- 
tain pious theologian advises) ought in honor of the grace 
of God, as manifested in His recent gift, to receive the new 
stranger into this world with a kiss. For true is the con- 
fession of the holy Maccabean mother, who said : " We know 
not how infants are conceived; we ourselves give to them 
neither breath nor life, nor do we knit together the mem- 
bers of their body. But the Creator of the world is the 
maker of the human race." 

5. If parents see the new-born alive, sound, and complete 
in its members, they ought forthwith to return humble 
thanks to the munificent Donor, and fervently pray that 
through His holy angels He will protect it from all evil, 
and make its education felicitous by granting to it a heav- 
enly blessing. 

6. The parents should then make provision for returning 
the gift to its Almighty Giver through a pious dedication, 
fervently praying that the most merciful God would deign 
to save His own creature in Christ, and by granting it the 



72 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

Holy Spirit, as an earnest of salvation, to ratify and con- 
firm His own choice. Likewise they should piously prom- 
ise, that if God will bestow on their child life and health, 
they will withdraw it from all worldly vanity and car- 
nal corruptions, training it up piously for His glory. So 
Hannah in fervent prayer devoting her son Samuel to God, 
before and after conception, and after his birth, obtained 
a blessing for him. For it is not in the nature of the 
Divine mercy to repel from Himself that which is conse- 
crated to Him in humility and fervor. On the contrary, 
if parents treat this matter with carelessness, God gives 
them disobedient children, that it may be obvious to the 
eye that those blessings are gratuitous and bestowed by 
Him alone. 

7. The efficacious initiation of children into piety may be 
begun in the second year, 1 when reason, as a little lovely 
flower, begins to unfold itself and to distinguish things. 2 
For then the tongue is loose, they begin to utter articulate 
words, their feet acquire strength, and they prepare them- 
selves for running. This is now the most favorable oppor- 
tunity to begin the exercises of piety; yet little by little; 
the steps by which this may be done I will now indicate. 

8. First, when the elder children pray or sing before and 
after meals, it should be provided that the infant be accus- 
tomed to silence, to sit or stand quietly, to compose the 
hands and keep them so. Children may easily be accus- 

1 Rousseau delays religious instruction until the sixteenth or seven- 
teenth year. " When the imagination has once seen God," he says, 
" it is very rare that the understanding conceives Him." 

2 "The faculty of reasoning," says Locke, "seldom or never de- 
ceives those who trust to it." Dr. G. Stanley Hall says: "Logic has 
a very high educational value as reason approaches its maturity, and 
may become a passion as early as the high school ; but with young 
children the prime, if not the sole, question is to know what the soul 
is ripe and eager for." 



RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 73 

tomed to this, provided others set before them a good exam- 
ple, and during the requisite time keep their hands folded 
also. 

9. Secondly, that from their lips may now go forth the 
praise of God, children should be taught to bend the knee, to 
fold the hands and look upwards, and say little prayers, 
especially this very little one, " God my Father, be mer- 
ciful to me for the sake of Thy Son Jesus Christ Our Lord, 
Amen." 1 Within a month or two this prayer may be fixed 
in their memories. They should next be taught the Lord's 
Prayer, not all at once, but the first petition within the 
space of a week, every day, morning and evening, repeating 
it once or twice; for what else has its attendant to do? It 
is likewise proper that as the child advances in reason it 
should be accustomed, as often as it requires food, to say its 
own little prayer. 2 When the child has mastered the words 
and retains in memory the first petition, the second ought 
to be added, and repeated during two weeks. Then the 
third should be joined to these, and so on to the end. In 
this way a child will more easily retain in memory the 
Lord's Prayer, than if, according to the usual manner, the 
whole were recited at one and the same time. For thus 
it is forced to be learning it during two or three years, and 
even then will not remember it correctly. 

1 Madame de Maintenon, who wrote most intelligently on the 
education of girls, said: "Let piety consist rather in the innocence 
of their lives and in the simplicity of their occupations than in the 
austerities, the retirements, and the refinements of devotion." 

Kant was in entire accord with Rousseau that religious instruction 
did not belong to the period of early childhood. He says : "Religious 
ideas always suppose some system of theology, and how are we to 
teach theology to the young, who, far from knowing the world, do not 
yet know themselves." 

2 "The Child accustomed from its earliest years to pray, to think, 
and to work," says Pestalozzi, " is already more than half educated." 



74 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

10. In the third place, it may be shown to the child, by 
pointing with the finger to heaven, that God is there, who 
made all things, from whom we have food, drink, and cloth- 
ing. Then, that the child may understand why we, during 
prayer, look up to heaven, this little prayer may be added : 
"0 my God, grant me a heart fearing Thee, obedient to 
father and mother, and everywhere in everything pleasing 
Thee. Impart to me Thy Holy Spirit to teach and enlighten 
me, through Jesus Christ Thy beloved Son. Amen." 

11. Afterwards the Apostle's Creed should be taught in 
little portions, 1 so that the child may completely know it 
before the end of the third year ; of the fourth year, how- 
ever, with slower children. This may easily be done by 
reciting morning and evening, and before and after food, in 
the first month the first portion only ; in the second month, 
the second portion with the first; in the third month, the 
third portion with the second and first, and so in succession. 
When a new portion is learned, it may be repeated until 
the child has completely mastered the words. It may also 
be permitted to children, when prayer is concluded, to^rise 
from their knees and recite the confession standing, that 
thus they may be accustomed to distinguish between what 
is and what is not prayer. 

12. This will be the proper time to speak occasionally of 
God, so that, when He is mentioned, children may be accus- 

1 Miss Elizabeth Harrison, who has written at length on this sub- 
ject, in her Letters on the Elementary Principles of Education (London, 
1808), takes another view of such instruction. She says: "I believe 
the recollections of most people who have been educated by pious 
parents will furnish them with numerous instances of the inutility of 
loading the memory at an early period with creeds and catechisms 
which are totally beyond the comprehension. Even those which are 
best adapted to childhood lose all their meaning when detached into 
the small and broken portions, by the repetition of which they are 
committed to memory." 



RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 75 

tomed to reverence, venerate, and love Him. To this, how- 
ever, they should be instructed according to their capacity; 
for example, pointing up to heaven you may say, "God 
dwells there " ; turning their attention to the sun, " Lo, God 
made the sun, by whch He shineth upon us " ; when it thun- 
ders, "Lo, He threatens the impious," etc. Likewise prom- 
ising them, if they willingly pray to God and obey father 
and mother, that God will give them beautiful attire, but if 
not, that He will punish them. And when any new cloth- 
ing is given them, a repast, or anything that pleases them, 
it ought to be said that God gives them these things. If 
they visit where there is a dead body, or accompany a 
funeral, show them the dead body as covered with earth in 
the grave, or an animal that has been killed, and say, " God 
destroyed them because of wickedness." All these things 
should be done in order that the power of God may be 
impressed upon their mind. 

13. If the things here written seem childlike to any 
one, my answer is, that they are so; for the matter here 
treated belongs to children with whom we cannot proceed 
otherwise than in a childlike manner. Christ Himself, in 
His word and in His life, speaks to adults in no other way 
than as children ; for, in truth, we are children, understand- 
ing divine and heavenly things not as they are in themselves, 
but according to our capabilities ; and yet God descends to 
our infirmities ; why, then, should not we condescend to the 
weakness of our children? 

14. When they have learned the Confession of Faith, the 
Ten Commandments may be gradually given them, 1 and in 
the same order which has been advised with respect to the 
Lord's Prayer and the Confession of Faith; so that the 

1 Comenius shared with Luther the religious conceptions of the 
Reformation. The latter asks : " Is it not reasonable that every Chris- 
tian should know the Gospel at the age of nine or ten ? " 



76 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

Ten Commandments may not be learned all at the same 
time (for in this way the natural ability may be blunted 
and impaired), but by portions. For example, the first 
precept daily for a whole week, in the morning after break- 
fast, and in the evening after supper, the second precept 
should be next, and as it is somewhat longer, it may occupy 
two or three weeks ; the third and fourth during the same 
time; the fifth during two weeks; the sixth to the ninth 
should be taken together, and learned in the course of two 
weeks; and when the tenth has been learned, the whole 
should be repeated distinctly at the several prayers. And 
now the child itself may recite them, but in the presence of 
its father or mother, or nurse, or another person appointed 
to the duty of seeing that it makes no mistakes, and of set- 
ting it right when hesitating. Attention to gestures, how- 
ever, ought not to be forgotten, for the child should not be 
allowed to look this way and that, to swing itself to and 
fro, or move its hands; but by all means accustom it to 
devotional propriety. In this it should be instructed and 
encouraged, nay, compelled by rebuke or chastisement, if 
requisite, by the rod or by a refusal of its repast, until it 
obey. With the view to this, children should be counseled 
before or even during prayer. If, after all, they trans- 
gress, punishment should follow, either at the time, or 
when prayer is ended, so that they may be aware that 
proper attention must be insisted upon. All must be done 
prudently, however, lest, instead of loving, they should 
begin to dislike sacred things. 1 

1 Professor Earl Barnes observes: "Any punishment which leaves 
the child in a worse state of mind than it found him, which leaves him 
ugly and revengeful, or cowardly and hopeless, is wrong ; and from the 
point of view of the intelligent teacher has been a failure. What the 
child ought to feel has nothing to do with the case. Our problem is 
the same as that of the physician : How has the remedy which we have 
applied actually affected the patient ? has it left him better or worse 
than he was before ? " 



RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 7T 

15. In the fifth year, an evening prayer ought to be 
added to the exercises of piety ; for example : " I thank 
Thee, my Father in heaven, through Jesus Christ, Thy 
beloved Son, that Thou hast graciously kept me all this 
day by Thy free mercies. I pray Thee to pardon all my 
sins, which I have naughtily done; kindly keep me by 
Thy grace all through this night; for into Thy hands I 
give up myself, my body and soul, and my all. May Thy 
holy angels be with me, so that Satan may not be able to 
say I am his. Amen." This prayer to be followed by the 
Lord's Prayer. 

16. When children have learned this prayer, the follow- 
ing morning prayer may be learned : " I give Thee thanks, 
my heavenly Father, through Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, 
that Thou hast kept me all through the past night from all 
evil. I pray Thee, preserve me all through this day from 
every sin and wickedness ; so that all I do and all my life 
may please Thee. For into Thy hands I give myself up, 
body and soul, and my all. May Thy holy angels attend 
me, so that the devil may not get any right in me. Amen." 
To this also the Lord's Prayer is to be added. 

17. Children will now readily learn, from daily recita- 
tion, to ask a blessing at table and to return thanks. 1 

18. That the piety now taking root in the heart may not 
be subject to hindrances, it will be useful — indeed highly 
necessary at this age — to guard against occasions of evil, 
by using every possible effort, that nothing vile or impious, 
tending to contaminate the mind, may be presented to the 
eyes or reach the ears of children. For as, according to the 
testimony of Solomon, He who is first in his own cause seems 
just; and according to the saying of just counsels: What 



1 This practice of children instead of parents saying grace at the 
table is quite common in Germany at the present time. 



78 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

appertains to nobody becomes the property of the first occu- 
pant, so likewise it is everlasting truth that first impres- 
sions adhere most firmly to our minds. Whatever first 
attaches to the tender age of children, whether good or 
bad, remains most firmly fixed, so that throughout life it 
may not be expelled by any after impression. 

19. In a court of justice, no doubt, the accused may jus- 
tify his own cause ; the judge having been better informed, 
the accused overthrows the cause of his accuser, by refuting 
the allegations, the coloring being dispersed; for whichever 
of the two parties; whether the former or the latter, pleads 
his cause most satisfactorily, the judge (being mature in 
age and understanding) pronounces sentence in favor of 
that one, commanding the other to depart; but the mind of 
this early age, just unfolding itself, represents wax, upon 
which any impression may be made when it is soft, 1 so that 
when it hardens it retains that impression, and will receive 
no other save with difficulty and violence. These, however, 
differ still wider, since the wax may be softened by fire so 
as to lose the former impression; whereas the brain can by 
no means be forced to lose what it has once received. I 
maintain that no art or method can be devised by which a 
man can efface an impression which he has once received, 
even if he himself desire it, and much less at the command 
of anybody else. It was therefore wisely observed by The- 
mistocles that he would rather desire the faculty of forget- 
fulness than of remembering; because, whatever the force 
of our natural memory has apprehended, it easily retains 
and rarely permits it to be removed. 

20. Nothing, therefore, more requires the care of parents 
who really desire their children's safety, than that, while 
instructing them as to all good things, they should likewise 
secure them against the access of all evil things by conduct- 

1 Comenius here gives expression to Locke's tabula rasa theory. 



RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 79 

ing themselves piously and holily, 1 and by enjoining the 
same on their families and all their domestics. 2 Christ 
declares in the case of such as act otherwise, "Woe to him 
that offends one of these very little ones " ; and Juvenal, 
although a heathen, has left it upon record : " The greatest 
reverence is due to a child. Whatever base things you 
design to do, despise not the years of your child." 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Adler's Moral Instruction of Children, Chap. IX. ; Fenelon's Edu- 
cation of Girls, Chaps. VII. and VIII. ; Herford's Students' Frobel, 
Chap. IV. ; Laurie's Primary Instruction in Belation to Education, 
Chap. VIII.; Malleson's Early Training of Children, Chap. V. ; 
Necker de Saussure's Progressive Education, Book III., Chaps. VII., 
VIII. , and IX. ; Pestalozzi's Leonard and Gertrude ; Richter's Levana, 
Second Fragment, Chap. IV. 

1 Carlyle says : "To teach religion, the first thing needful and also 
the last and only thing is the rinding of a man who has religion." 

2 Perhaps no modern writer has expressed the ideal of religious 
instruction in better form than Dr. William T. Harris. He says : 
"The highest religion, that of pure Christianity, sees in the world 
infinite meditations, all for the purpose of developing independent in- 
dividuality ; the perfection of human souls not only in one kind of 
piety, — namely, that of the heart, — but in the piety of the intellect, 
that beholds truth, the piety of the will, that does good deeds wisely, 
the piety of the senses, that sees the beautiful and realizes it in works 
of art." 



CHAPTER XL 

EXTENT OF HOME TRAINING. 

1. As little plants after they have grown up from their 
seed are transplanted into orchards, in order to their more 
successful growth and to their bearing fruit, so it is expe- 
dient that children, cherished in the maternal bosom, hav- 
ing now acquired strength of mind and body, should be 
delivered to the care of teachers, so that they may grow 
up more successfully. Young trees when transplanted 
always grow tall, and garden fruit has always a richer 
flavor than forest fruit. But when and how is this to be 
done? I do not advise that children should be removed 
from the mother and delivered to teachers before their 
sixth year, for the following reasons: 1 — 

2. First, the infantile age requires more watchfulness 
and care than a teacher, having a number of children 
under him, is able to afford; it is therefore better that 
children should continue under the direction of the mother. 2 

1 Professor Rein of Jena observes : "In the education of the home 
there is a concentration of all the educative activities within the limits 
of a single circle of life. This circle is the result of a natural union 
based upon a common parentage." 

2 "The mother," says Pestalozzi, " is qualified by the Creator Him- 
self to become the principal agent in the development of the child. 
God has given to the child all the faculties of our nature ; but the 
grand point remains undecided — how shall this heart, this head, these 
hands, be employed? to whose service shall they be dedicated?" 
Again : " Maternal love is the first agent in education." 

80 



EXTENT OF HOME TRAINING. 81 

3. Then it is safer that the brain be rightly consolidated 
before it begin to sustain labors; in an infant the whole 
cranium is scarcely closed, and the brain is not consolidated 
before the fifth or sixth year. It is sufficient, therefore, for 
this age to comprehend spontaneously, imperceptibly, in 
play, so much as is convenient in the domestic circle. 

4. Besides, no benefit could arise from a different course. 
The shoot which is taken to be planted out while too tender, 
grows feebly and slowly, whereas the firmer one grows 
strongly and quickly. The young horse prematurely put 
to the carriage becomes weakened ; but give him full, time 
to grow, and he will draw the more strongly, and more 
than repay you for the delay. 

5. In truth, it is no great delay to wait until the end of 
the sixth year or the beginning of the seventh, provided 
always that care be taken, as has been advised, that there 
be no failure at home during those first years of their age. 
If it happen that a child completes at home, 1 according to 
the manner prescribed, its elementary instruction in piety, 
good morals, reverence, obedience, and due respect to supe- 
riors; in wisdom, in promptness of action, and distinct 
pronunciation of words; it will by no means be too late to 
enter upon scholastic instruction at the termination of the 
sixth year. 2 

1 Jean Paul Richter shares this responsibility with the father. He 
says : " Only by the union of manly energy and decision with womanly 
gentleness does the child rest and sail at the conflux of two streams. 
The sun raises the tide, and so does the moon ; but he raises it only 
one foot, she three, and both united four. The husband only marks 
full stops in the child's life ; the wife, commas and semicolons." 

2 Harriet Martineau, in her Household Education (Philadelphia, 
1849) , agrees with Comenius in deferring the time of sending a child 
to formal schools until the sixth or seventh year. She says : " School 
is no place of education for any children whatever till their minds are 
well put in action. This is the work which has to be done at home, 

G 



82 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

6. On the other hand, I am unwilling to advise that 
children should be kept at home beyond the sixth year, 
because within that time, whatever ought to be learned at 
home, according to the manner shown, may be easily com- 
pleted. And unless a child after this be at once delivered 
over for higher instruction, it will invariably become accus- 
tomed to unprofitable idleness, and again become like a 
"wild ass's colt." Nay, it is to be feared that from this 
imprudent idleness some vice may attach to the child, which 
afterwards, as a noxious weed, can only with difficulty be 
rooted out. The best way is to continue without intermis- 
sion what has once been begun. 

7. This advice, however, is not to be so literally under- 
stood, as if, without due consideration of circumstances, no 
transfer ought to be made at the expiration of the six 
years. The proposed termination may either be made or 
anticipated by a half or even a whole year, according to 
the child's capacity and progress. Some trees bear fruit in 
spring, some in summer, some in autumn. Early flowers, 
however, fade the soonest, while late ones acquire greater 
strength and durability; in like manner, early fruit is use- 
ful for the day, but will not keep, whereas late fruit may 
be kept all the year. 

8. In some children the natural capacities would fly 
before the sixth, the fifth, or even the fourth year ; yet it 
will be beneficial rather to restrain than permit this, 1 and 

and which may be done in all homes where the mother is a sensible 
woman. This done, a school is a resource of inestimable advantage 
for cultivating the intellect and aiding in the acquisition of knowledge ; 
but it is of little or no use without preparation at home." 

1 Rousseau carried this restraint to an insane extent. He said : 
"The first education should be purely negative. It consists by no 
means in teaching virtue or truth, but in securing the heart from vice 
and the intellect from error. If you would do nothing, and let noth- 
ing be done, if you would bring up your pupil healthy and strong to 



EXTENT OF HOME TRAINING. 83 

very much worse to stimulate it. By acting otherwise, the 
parents who, on rare occasions, have a Doctor of Philosophy 
before the time, will often have a Bachelor of Arts, and 
oftener a "Fool. The vine, at first luxuriating too much 
and sending forth clusters thickly, will, no doubt, grow to 
a great height, but its root will be deprived of vigor, and 
nothing will be durable. On the contrary, there are also 
slower natural capacities with which it may scarcely be 
possible to begin anything useful in the seventh or eighth 
year. Consequently, the counsel here given must be under- 
stood as # applying to children of ordinary abilities, whose 
number is always the greater. In case any one has a child 
of superior or inferior talents, such would do well to con- 
sult with the teachers or inspectors of the school. 

9. The signs by which the child's ability to attend the 
public schools may be discovered, are the following : 1. If 
the child has really acquired what it behooved it to learn 
in the maternal school. 2. If there be discovered in the 
child attention and appreciation of questions, with some 
power of judgment. 3. If a child display some desire for 
further instruction. 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Edgeworth's Practical Education, Chap. II. ; Fdnelon's Education 
of Girls, Chaps. XL, XII., and XIII. ; Pestalozzi's Leonard and 
Gertrude; Richter's Levana, Third Fragment, Chap. I. ; Rousseau's 
L*mile, Book I. 

the age of twelve, without his being able to tell his right hand from 
his left, from your very first lessons the eyes of his understanding would 
open to reason." Again: "Look on all delays as so many advan- 
tages : it is a great gain to advance toward the goal without loss. Let 
childhood ripen in childhood. ' ' 



CHAPTER XII. 

PBEPABATION FOB, THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

1. All human affairs, to be properly transacted, require 
due reflection and preparation. This is noticed by the son 
of Sirach : " Preparation is demanded before prayer, before 
passing judgment, and before uttering a word, even though 
the question be quite obvious " ; and certainly it is proper, 
that a creature who is a participator of reason should do 
nothing without reason and judgment, without prudence and 
circumspection, so as to reflect beforehand why he does cer- 
tain things, and what may be the result or what may follow 
if done in this or any other way. Parents, therefore, ought 
not to hand over their children inconsiderately for instruc- 
tion in schools, before they themselves seriously reflect what 
is suitable to be done in this matter, and thus to open the 
eyes of their children to look forward to the same. 1 

2. Parents act imprudently who, with no preparation, 
lead their children to schools, as calves to market, or flocks 
to the herd. 2 Afterwards the schoolmaster becomes har- 

1 "The home," declared Pestalozzi, "is the basis of the education 
of humanity." 

"In the home," said Frobel, "the child grows up to boyhood and 
school age ; therefore the school should grow out of and join itself on 
to the home. To-day the first and most indispensable demand of 
human training — complete or tending toward completeness — is 
union of instruction with life — union of home and school life." 

2 Miss Emma Marwedel, in her Conscious Motherhood (Boston, 

84 



PREPARATION FOR THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 85 

assed with them, and will punish them as he thinks fit. 
Such parents, however, are surpassed in folly by those 
who, exciting terror for the teacher and dread for the 
school, drive their children there. This is done when 
parents or domestics incautiously declaim in the presence 
of children respecting scholastic punishments and the 
severity of teachers, and tell them that they will no 
longer be allowed to play, and the like, by saying, " I will 
send you to school; you shall be made gentle; they will 
beat you with rods; only wait a little," etc. In this way 
occasion is given them, not for gentleness, but for greater 
ferocity, despair, and slavish fear towards schools and 
teachers. 

3. Therefore prudent and pious parents, tutors, and 
guardians should act in this matter as follows: First, as 
the time for sending children to school draws near, they 
should endeavor to inspire them with pleasure, 1 as if fair 
days and the vintage were approaching, when they will go 
to school along with other children, learn with them, and 
play with them. The father or mother may also promise 
them a very beautiful dress, an elegant cap, a polished 
tablet, a book, and the like ; or they may occasionally show 
those things which they have ready for them. They ought 
not, however, to give them until the proper time, but only 

1889), appreciates more than any other modern writer the necessity 
of preparation for the school period. 

Miss Maria Edgeworth says in this connection : " Children do not 
come to school with fresh unprejudiced minds to commence their 
course of social education ; they bring all the ideas and habits which 
they have already learned in their respective homes. And it is highly 
unreasonable to expect that all these habits should be reformed by the 
teacher." 

1 Madame Pape-Carpentier maintains that " the child should live in 
the midst of fresh and soothing impressions ; the objects which sur- 
round him in the school should be graceful and cheerful." 



86 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

promise that they will give them, so as to increase their 
desire more and more, saying to them such words as these : 
" Come, my dear child, pray diligently that the time may 
soon come; be pious, and obedient," etc. 

4. It will also be beneficial to tell them how excellent a 
thing it is to attend schools and acquire learning, for only 
such become great men, lawyers, professors, doctors, preach- 
ers of the Divine word, senators, etc., all of them excellent 
men, celebrated, rich, and wise, whom the rest of mankind 
are necessarily bound to honor; likewise, that it is better 
and more becoming to attend school than to drone away 
in idleness at home, or run about the streets, or learn bad 
habits ; that learning is not labor, but that amusement with 
books and a pen is sweeter than honey; and of this amuse- 
ment children may have a foretaste. 1 It may be useful to 
put chalk into their hands, with which they may delineate 
on a slate or on paper, angles, squares, circles, little stars, 
horses, trees, etc. ; and it matters not that these be correctly 
drawn, provided that they afford delight to the mind. It 
cannot fail of being beneficial for the child to be accustomed 
to form letters easily, and to distinguish them. Whatever 
else can be done to excite in them a love of school ought 
not to be omitted. 

5. Parents, moreover, should endeavor to excite in their 

1 Locke, Fenelon, Rousseau, and Basedow would also present 
learning in the guise of amusement. Pestalozzi, however, took the 
matter more seriously. He said : " I am convinced that such a notion 
will forever preclude solidity of knowledge ; and, for want of suffi- 
cient exertions on the part of the pupils, will lead to that very result 
which I wish to avoid by my principle of a constant employment of 
the thinking powers." 

Madame Necker de Saussure agreed with Pestalozzi. She wrote : 
' ' The education that takes place through amusement dissipates 
thought ; labor of some sort is one of the great aids of nature ; the 
mind of the child ought to accustom itself to the labor of study." 



PREPARATION FOR THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 87 

children confidence and love towards their future teacher, 



and this may be done in various ways ; for instance, making 
mention of him as amiable, calling him father's friend, 
mother's friend, or a good neighbor, and generally prais- 
ing up his learning, wisdom, kindness, and benevolence; 
that he is a distinguished man, knows many things, and 
yet is kind to children and loves them ; and though it be 
true that some are punished by him, yet that these are only 
such as are disobedient and wicked, and deserve to be pun- 
ished by everybody, but that he never chastises obedient 
children ; besides, he shows children many things, how to 
write, to draw, how to learn by heart, etc. By conversing 
in a childlike manner in this or some such way, parents 
may remove all fear and dread from them. Sometimes, 
also, they may be questioned thus : " Will you be obedient? " 
If the child answer "Yes," it should be told, "Assuredly, 
then, your schoolmaster will affectionately love you." And 
in order that the child may acquire some acquaintance with 
the future teacher, and discover that he is an able man, and 
so be confirmed in the opinion, the father or mother should 
send occasionally some little present to the schoolmaster by 
the child, either alone or with a servant ; the teacher, if he 
is mindful of his duty, will speak kindly to the child, show- 
ing him something that he may not have seen before, — a 
book, a picture, some musical or mathematical instrument, 
or anything pleasing to a child. Sometimes, also, he may 
give a writing tablet, a pen, a penny, a piece of sugar, some 
fruit, or the like, to the child. However, that this may 
not be at his own expense, the parents, whose interest it 
really is, should remunerate him, or previously send the 
gift. In this way a child will readily acquire a love for, 
and joyous anticipation of, the school and teacher, espe- 
cially where the disposition of the child is generous; and 
the work so well begun is now half done; for when to chil- 



88 SCHOOL OF INFANCY. 

dren the school becomes an amusement, they will make 
progress with rapidity and delight. 

6. Since, however, " all wisdom is from the Lord, as it is 
with Him from eternity, He moreover is the leader and the 
ruler of wisdom, and in His hands are we, and our words ; 
likewise all providence and knowledge," the present matter 
necessarily requires that parents should in devout prayer, 
again commend their children to God, begging Him to 
grant His blessing on their scholastic instruction, and to 
make out of them vessels of grace, nay, if it please His 
wisdom, the instruments of His glory. So Hannah with 
prayer delivered her Samuel to Eli; so David delivered 
Solomon to , the prophet Nathan; so the mother of John 
Huss, 1 the Bohemian martyr, as she was taking him to 
school, occasionally during the journey falling on her knees 
with him, poured out her prayers. And how well God 
heard and blessed thes« prayers, all Christians know. For 
how can God thrust away from Him that which is dedicated 
to Him with a full and warm heart, with prayers and tears : 
first, before birth; afterwards in faithful dedication; and 
now a third time? It is impossible for Him not to receive 
so holy an offering. 

7. Therefore the father or mother may use the following 
prayer : " Almighty God, Creator of spirits and of all flesh, 
from whom all paternity upon earth is named, supreme gov- 
ernor of angels and of men, who, in virtue of Thine eternal 
right over all creatures, didst ordain by the word of Thy 
law that all first-fruits of the produce of the earth, of cattle 
and of men, should be presented as offerings to Thee, our 
God and Creator, or be redeemed according to Thy will with 
other victims; behold, I, Thy unworthy servant, having 

1 For a full account of John Huss, the first bishop of the Moravian 
Church, see De Schweinitz's History of the Unitas Fratrum (Bethle- 
hem, 1885). 



PREPARATION FOR THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 89 

received by Thy blessing this child, present it to Thee, our 
Creator, Father, and most merciful Lord God, with pro- 
found humility, that Thou mayest be my God and the God 
of my offspring forever. Oh, the vast benignity and mercy 
conferred upon us who believe that we, having been ran- 
somed from mankind, have been made first-fruits to God 
and the Lamb! Do Thou, therefore, ratify and confirm this 
blessing, most merciful God, that the child may be in 
the number of Thine elect, and receive a portion with Thy 
sanctified ones. And since I now deliver it, to obtain 
richer knowledge, to the director of youth, I pray Thee, 
add Thy blessing, that being instructed by Thy Holy Spirit, 
it may learn more and more what pleaseth Thee, and walk 
in Thy commandments. Fear of Thee, Lord, is the 
beginning of wisdom, therefore fill its heart with Thy fear, 
and enlighten it with the light of knowledge according to 
Thy will; so that its advanced age, if Thou shouldst deem 
fit, may be glorious to Thee, useful to its neighbors, and 
salutary to itself. Hear me, most beloved Father, and fulfill 
the prayer of Thy servant, for the sake of the intercession 
of our mediator Jesus Christ, who received little children 
when brought to Him, embraced them in His arms, impart- 
ing to them a kiss and benediction." 

COLLATERAL READING. 

Adler's Moral Instruction of Children, Chap. V.; Edgeworth's 
Practical Education, Chap. XIX. ; Herford's Student's Fr'dbel, 
Chap. IV. ; Pestalozzi's Leonard and Gertrude, and How Gertrude 
Teaches Her Children ; Richter's Levana, Fourth Fragment, Chap. II. ; 
Rousseau's Emile, Book II. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIAN LITERATURE. 

1. Bardeen, C. W. The Text-Books of Comenius. Educational 

Beview. New York, March, 1892. 

2. Barnard, Henry, editor. John Amos Comenius. Barnard's 

American Journal of Education, Vol. V. 

3. Barnard, Henry. Orbis Sensulium Bictus. Barnard's American 
' Journal of Education, Vol. XXVIII. 

4. Barnard, Henry. Public Instruction in Prussia. Barnard's 

American Journal of Education, Vol. XIX. 

5. Beeger, Julius. Die Badagogischen Bibliotheken (Comenius- 

Stiftung). Leipzig, 1892. 

6. Benham, Daniel. A Sketch of the Life of Comenius, prefixed to 

the School of Infancy. London, 1858. 

7. Bohm, Franz. Amos Comenius. Deutscher Lehrerfreund. 

Znaim, 16 Marz, 1892. 

8. Botticher, Wilhelm. Die Erziehung des Kindes in seinen ersten 

sechs Jahren, nach Bestalozzi und nach Comenius. Znaim, 
1892. 

9. Browning, Oscar. An Introduction to the History of Educational 

Theories. New York, 1888. 

10. Browning, Oscar. Aspects of Education. New York, 1888. 

11. Buisson, F. Dictionnaire de Bedagogie. Tome Premier. Paris, 

1882. 

12. Busse, F. Object Teaching. Barnard's American Journal of 

Education, Vol. XXX. 

13. Butler, Nicholas Murray. The Blace of Comenius in the History 

of Education. Syracuse, 4892. 

14. Calkins, N. A. History of Object Teaching. Barnard's Ameri- 

can Journal of Education, Vol. XII. 

15. Castens, A. Was muss uns veranlassen, im Jahre 1892 das 

Andenken des Amos Comenius festlich zu begehen ? Znaim, 

1892. 

91 



92 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

16. Comenius. Ausgewahlte Schriften : I. Informatorium der Mutter- 

schule; II. Abriss der Volksschule ; III. Die pansophischen 
Vorbereitungsschriften ; IV. Die pansophischen Schulschiften ; 
V. Ausgang aus den scholastischen Irrgdrten ins Freie; VI. 
Welterweckung. Aus dem Lateinischen iibersetzt und mit Ein- 
leitung und Ammerkungen versehen von Julius Beeger und 
J. Leutbecher. Leipzig, 1875. 

17. Comenius. Mutterschule. Mit einer Einleitung herausgegaben 

von Albert Richter. Leipzig, 1891. 

18. Comenius. Die grosse Unterrichtslehre. Aus dem Lateinischen 

iibersetzt von Julius Beeger. Leipzig, 1895. 

19. Comenius. Grosse Unterrichtslehre. tlbersetzt und mit Biogra- 

phie versehen von Lindner. Wien, 1892. 

20. Comenius. Janua Linguarum Beserata. Amsterdam, 1661. 

21. Comenius. Opera Didactica Magna. Amsterdam, 1657. 

22. Comenius. The Orbis Pictus. Edited by C. W. Bardeen. Syra- 

cuse, 1887. 

23. Comenius. The School of Infancy : an Essay on the Education 

of Youth during the First Six Tears. Translated by Daniel Ben- 
ham. London, 1858. 

24. Comenius. " Unum Necessarium." Vortrag von A. Castens. 

Znaim, 1892. 

25. Comenius. Visible World. Translated into English by Charles 

Hoole. London, 1777. 

26. Compayre - , Gabriel. Le Centenaire de Comenius. Manuel 

General de V Instruction Primaire. Paris, 4 Juin, 1892. 

27. Compayre\ Gabriel. The History of Pedagogy. Translated from 

the French by W. H. Payne. Boston, 1886. 

28. De Schweinitz, Edmund. The History of the Unitas Fratrum. 

Bethlehem, 1885. . . 

29. Deressing, Gottlieb Gustav. Der Anscharengsunterricht in der 

deutschen Schide von Amos Comenius bis zur Gegenwart. 
Frankenberg, 1884. 

30. Eliot, S. A. Harvard College. Barnard's American Journal of 

Education, Vol. IX. 

31. Field, Mrs. E. M. The Child and His Book. London, 1891. 

32. Garbovicianu, Petru. Die Didaktik Basedoics im Vergleiche zur 

Didaktik des Comenius. Bucharest, 1887. 

33. Gill, John. Systems of Education. Boston, 1887. 

34. Gindley, Anton. TJeber des Comenius Leben und Wirksamkeit in 

der Fremde. Znaim, 1892. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 93 

35. Gottsched, Hermann. Die Padagogischen Grundgedanken des 

Amos Comenius. Magdeburg, 1879. 

36. Gregor, Francis. A Pioneer of Learning. Chicago Times. March 

26, 1892. 

37. Hanus, Paul H. Permanent Influences of Comenius. Educa- 

tional Review. New York, March, 1892. 

38. Hark, John Max. John Amos Comenius : His Private Life and 

Personal Characteristics. Proceedings of National Educational 
Association, 1892. 

39. Hause, Paul. Die Pddagogik des Spaniers Johannes Ludivig 

Vives und sein Einfluss auf Joh. Amos Comenius. Erlangen, 
1890. 

40. Hoole, Charles. The Usher's Duty. Barnard's American Jour- 

nal of Education, Vol. XVII. 

41. Hunziker, O. Comenius und Pestalozzi. Zurich, 1892. 

42. Jonas, Charles. Na Oslavu velikeho : Zivot a prdce J. A. Komen- 

slceho. Slavie. Racine, dne 23 bfezna, 1892. 

43. Keller, Ludwig. Monatshefte der Comenius- Gesellschaft, Band 

I. Leipzig, 1892. 

44. Kiddle and Schem. The Cyclopaedia of Education. New York, 

1883. 

45. Klose, Edwin G. John Amos Comenius: His Life, Services to the 

Brethren'' s Church and to Education. The Moravian. Bethle- 
hem, March 9, 16, and 23, 1892. 

46. Lang, Ossian H. Comenius : His Life and Principles of Educa- 

tion. New York, 1891. 

47. Laurie, S. S. Comenius, the Encyclopaedist and Founder of 

Method. Journal of Education. London, March, 1892. 

48. Laurie, S. S. John Amos Comenius : His Life and Educational 

Works. Edited by C. W. Bardeen. Syracuse, 1892. 

49. Laurie, S. S. John Amos Comenius, Bishop of the Moravians ; 

His Life and Educational Works. Boston, 1885. 

50. Laurie, S. S. The Place of Comenius in the History of Education. 

Educational Review. New York, March, 1892. 

51. Marius. Nachlese zur Comeniusfeier. Deutscher Lehrerfreund, 

16 April, 1892. 

52. Maxwell, William H. The Text-Books of Comenius. Proceed- 

ings of the National Educational Association, 1892. 

53. Milton, John. Tractate on Education. London, 1890. 

54. Monatshefte der Comenius- Gesellschaft. Leipzig, 1892-1896. 



94 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

55. Monroe, Will S. At Comenius 1 Grave (Naarden, Holland). 

Journal of Education. Boston, November 15, 1894. 

56. Monroe, Will S. Comenius, the Evangelist of Modern Pedagogy. 

Education. Boston, December, 1892. 

57. Monroe, Will S. Die neueste amerikanische Comenius- Litter atur. 

Monatshefte der Comenius- Gesellschaft. Leipzig, Marz, 1893. 

58. Monroe, Will S. Die Mutter schule des Comenius. Mitteilungen 

der Comenius- Gesellschaft. Leipzig, November und December, 
1894. 

59. Munroe, James P. The Educational Ideal. Boston, 1895. 

60. Mrazik, Jan. Oslava Komenskeho v Omaze. Pokrok Zapadu. 

Omaha, dne 30 bfezna, 1892. 

61. Miiller, Joseph. Zur Biicherkunde des Comenius. Monatshefte 

der Comenius-Gesellschaft. Leipzig, Marz, 1892. 

62. Miiller, Walter. Comenius : Ein Systematiker in der Padagogik. 

Dresden, 1887. 

63. Netopil, Fr. Der Orbis Pictus des Comenius. Deutscher Lehrer- 

freund. Znaim, 1 Mai und 16 Juli, 1892. 

64. Painter, P. V. N. History of Education. New York, 1887. 

65. Paroz, Jules. Histoire Universelle de la Pedagogic Paris, 1883. 

66. Payne, Joseph. Lectures on the History of Education. London, 

1892. 

67. Quick, Robert Hebert. Educational Beformers. New York, 

1892. 

68. Raven, J. H. An Old School Book. LittelVs Living Age. Lon- 

don, May 8, 1886. 

69. Richter, Jean Paul. Levana, or Doctrine of Education. London, 

1886. 

70. Robert, Edouard. Notice sur Jean Amos Comenius et ses Idees 

Humanitaires et Pedagogique. Bevue Pedagogique. Paris, 
De"cembre, 1881, et F<§vrier, 1882. 

71. Sander, F. Jakob Bedinger, der Silen im Gefolge des J. A. Come- 

nius. Beilage zur Allgemainen Zeitung. Mtinchen, 2 Septem- 
ber, 1892. 

72. Schmid, Karl. Geschichte der Padagogik. Dritter Band, 

Kothen, 1883. 

73. Smaha und Bornemann. Comenius als Kartograph seines Vater- 

landes. Znaim, 1892. 

74. Trawinski, F. Le Troisieme Centenaire de Jean Eomensky. 

Bevue Pedagogique. Paris, Octobre, 1892. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 95 

75. Von Raumer, Karl. Geschichte der Pddagogik. Zweiter Theil. 

Giitersloh, 1889. 

76. Von Raumer, Karl. Methods of Teaching Latin. Barnard's 

American Journal of Education, Vol. VI. 

77. Vrbka, Anton. Leben und Schicksale der Johann Amos Come- 

nius. Znaim, 1892. 

78. Wickersham, James Pyle. A History of Education in Pennsyl- 

vania. Lancaster, 1886. 



INDEX. 



Activity, 44. 
Alcott, A. Bronson, 9. 
Apostle's Creed, 74. 
Arithmetic, 20, 47. 
Aristotle, 22. 
Ascham, 21. 
Astronomy, 38. 
Aurelius, Marcus, 27. 

Bacon, 36. 

Bardeen, C. W., 38. 

Barnard, Henry, xii. 

Barnes, Earl, 37, 76. 

Basedow, 86. 

Beeger, Julius, xii. 

Benevolence, 65. 

Benham, Daniel, xi. 

Bibliography of Comenian literature, 

91. 
Books for mothers and teachers, xv. 
Botany, 38. 
Brethren's school, xi. 
Biilow, Bertha Marenholtz von, 48. 
Butler, Nicholas Murray, xiii. 

Caligula, 29. 
Carlyle, 79. 
Child study, xv. 
Chronology, 20. 
Church Fathers, 65. 
Comenian bibliography, 91. 
Comenius-Gesellschaft, xii. 
Comenius' grave, xiv. 
Comenius library at Leipzig, xiv. 
Comenius, Works of, 92. 



Commandments, the ten, 75. 
Compayre, xii, 31. 
Conduct, 56. 
Confession of Faith, 75. 
Corporal punishment, 59. 
Crates, 9. 
Creeds, 74. 

David, 1. 
Deaf children, 52. 
Dialectics, 20, 46. 
Drawing, 46. 
Dress, 62. 

Eating, 61. 

Economy, household, 40. 
Edgeworth, Maria, 85. 
Ethical instruction, 57. 
Emerson, 44, 68. 
Expression, 44. 

Fables, 42. 

Fenelon, 13, 42, 70, 86. 

Figures of speech, 52. 

French, 55. 

Frobel, 3, 11, 17, 34, 44, 65, 84. 

Geography, 20, 39. 
Geometry, 20, 47. 
Gestures, 52. 
Geyler, Dr., 60. 
Gifts, 87. 

Grace at table, 77. 
Great Didactic, ix, 58. 
Greek, x. 



07 



98 



INDEX. 



Hall, G. Stanley, 72. 

Hanus, Paul H., ix, 37, 47. 

Harris, William T., ix, 79. 

Harrison, Elizabeth, 74. 

Harvard College, xiii. 

Health, 23. 

Heart of Oak, 54. 

Heath, D. C, & Co., 54. 

Hebrew, x. 

Herbart, 62. 

Herder, xiii. 

History, 20, 40. 

Hollar, W., xii. 

Home training, 80. 

Horace Mann School, Boston, 52. 

Huss, John, 88. 

Imitation, 45, 64. 

Jeremiah, 26. 
Jesuits, 46. 
Job, 5. 
Justice, 64. 
Juvenal, 79. 

Kant, 67, 73. 
Kindergarten, xv, 44. 

Language, 21, 50. 
La Salle, 47. 
Latin, ix, 54, 55. 
Latin schools, x, 50. 
Laurie, S. S., xii. 
Literature of Comenius, 91. 
Locke, 21, 32, 59, 72, 78, 86. 
Lord's Prayer, 73. 
Luther, 7. 

Maintenon, Madame de, 73. 
Malachi, 2. 
Mann, Horace, 6. 
Manners, 68. 
Martineau, Harriet, 81. 
Marwedel, Emma, 84. 
Mather, Cotton, xiii. 
Matthew, 7. 

Mechanical knowledge, 45. 
Melanchthon, Philip, 2. 



Melody, 49. 
Michelet, xiii. 
Moloch, 1. 
Montaigne, 23. 
Morals, 18. 
Moral training, 56. 
More, Hannah, 33. 
Mother school, ix. 
Mother-tongue, 54. 
Mulcaster, Richard, 46, 54. 
Miiller, Joseph, xi. 
Music, 21, 48. 

Nature study, 19, 35. 

Natural capacities, 82. 

Necker de Saussure, Madame, 1, 

86. 
Neef , Joseph, 19. 
Norton, Charles Eliot, 54. 
Number, 47. 

Obedience, 63. 
Optics, 20, 37. 
Orbis Pictus, 38. 

Pape-Carpentier, Madame, 85. 

Patience, 66. 

Paul, 13. 

Persians, 63. 

Pestalozzi, 12, 19, 23, 36, 56, 65, 73, 

80, 84, 86. 
Physics, x. 
Piety, 17, 72. 

Plato, 9, 16, 46, 48, 49, 53, 57, 64. 
Play, 32, 33, 34. 
Plutarch, 9, 28, 56, 63, 66. 
Poetry, 21, 53. 
Political knowledge, 41. 
Politics, 20. 

Portrait of Comenius, Frontispiece. 
Port Royalists, 55, 59. 
Prayers, 72. 
Preyer, William, 19. 
Priestley, Joseph, 36. 
Primary education, literature of, xvi. 
Primary education, value of, 12. 
Primary school, x. 
Psalms, 4, 13, 21. 



INDEX. 



99 



Public schools, 84. 
Punishments, 58, 76. 

Quick, Robert Hebert, xii. 
Quintilian, 7, 29, 43, 59. 

Rabelais, 38. 

Ratich, 54. 

Reason, 72. 

Reformation, The, 75. 

Rein, William, 80. 

Religious instruction, 70. 

Renaissance, 54. 

Respect, 62. 

Restraint, 62. 

Rewards, 89. 

Rhetoric, 21, 51. 

Rhythm, 53. 

Richter, Albert, xii. 

Richter, Jean Paul, 9, 29, 32, 38, 43, 

48, 53, 81. 
Rollin, 59. 
Rosenkranz, 14. 
Rousseau, 3, 16, 21, 25, 28, 32, 45, 47, 

64, 72, 73, 82, 86. 



School, preparation for, 84. 
Seneca, 56. 
Silence, 66. 
Singing, 48. 
Sirach, 62, 84. 
Solomon, 13, 35, 59, 77. 
Spartans, 31. 
Speer, W. W., 47. 
Study, 86. 

Temperance, 61. 

Ten Commandments, 75. 

Themistocles, 44. 

Tiberius, 29. 

Titus, 29. 

Tropes, 52. 

Truthfulness, 63. 

University, x. 

Vives, 25, 40. 

Winship, Albert E., 53. 
Writing, 46. 



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to the above, 118 pages of technical grammar. 70 cts. 
Supplement bound alone, 35 cts. 

Hyde's Advanced Lessons in English. For advanced classes in grammar schools 

and high schools. 60 cts. 

Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II with Advanced Lessons. The Ad. 

vanced Lessons and Book II bound together. 80 cts. 

Hyde's Derivation of Words. 15 cts. 

Mathews's Outline of English Grammar, with Selections for Practice 

The application of principles is made through composition of original sentences. 80 cts. 
Buckbee's Primary Word BOOk. Embraces thorough drills in articulation and in 
the primary difficulties of spelling and sound. 30 cts. 

Sever's Progressive Speller. For use in advanced primary, intermediate, and gram. 
mar grades. Gives spelling, pronunciation, definition, and use of words. 30 cts. 

Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language. Being Part I and Appendix of 

Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading. 50 cts. 

Smith's Studies in Nature, and Language Lessons. A combination of object 

lessons with language work. 50 cts. Part I bound separately, 25 cts. 

MeiklejOhn's English Language. Treats salient features with a master's skill and 
with the utmost clearness and simplicity. $1.30. 

MeiklejOhn's English Grammar. Also composition, versification, paraphrasing, etc. 
For high schools and colleges. 90 cts. 

MeiklejOhn's History of the English Language. 7 8 pages. Part III of Eng- 
lish Language above, 35 cts. 

Williams's Composition and Rhetoric by Practice. For high school and col- 
lege. Combines the smallest amount of theory with an abundance of practice. Revised 
edition. $1.00. 

Strang's Exercises in English. Examples in Syntax, Accidence, and Style for 
criticism and correction. 50 cts. 

Huffcutt'S English in the Preparatory SchOOl. Presents as practically as pos- 
sible some of the advanced methods of teaching English grammar and composition in the 
secondary schools. 25 cts. 

Woodward's Study Of English. Discusses English teaching from primary school to 
high collegiate work. 25 cts. 

Genung's Study Of Rhetoric. Shows the most practical discipline of s.udents for tht 
making of literature. 25 cts. 

GCOdchild'S BOOk Of Stops. Punctuation in Verse. Illustrated. 10 cts. 
See also our list of books for the study of E)iglish Literature. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 



H ISTOR K 



Sheldon's General History. For high school and college. The only history fol- 
lowing the " seminary " or laboratory plan, now advocated by all leading teachers. 
Price, #1.60. 

Sheldon's Greek and Roman History. Contains the first 250 pages of the above 
book. Price, §1.00. 

Teacher's Manual to Sheldon's History. Puts into the instructoi 's hand the key 
to the above system. Price, 80 cents. 

Sheldon's Aids to the Teaching of General History. Gives list of essential 
books for reference library. Price, 10 cents. 

Bridgman's Ten Years of Massachusetts. Pictures the development of the 
Commonwealth as seen in its laws. Price, 75 cents. 

Shumway's A Day in Ancient Rome. With 59 illustrations. Should find a place 
as a supplementary reader in every high school class studying Cicero, Horace 
Tacitus, etc. Price, 75 cents. 

Old South Leaflets on TJ. S. History. Reproductions of important political and 
historical papers, accompanied by useful notes. Price, 5 cents each. Per hun- 
dred, $3 00. 

This general series of Old South Leaflets now includes the following subjects : 
The Constitution of the United States, The Articles of Confederation, The De- 
claration of Independence, Washington's Farewell Address, Magna Charta, Vane's 
"Healing Question," Charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1629, Fundamental Orders 
of Connecticut, 1638, Franklin's Plan of Union, 1754, Washington's Inaugurals, 
Lincoln's Inaugurals and Emancipation Proclamation, The Federalist, Nos. 1 
and 2, The Ordinance of 1787, The Constitution of Ohio, Washington's Letter to 
Benjamin Harrison, Washington's Circular Letter to the Governors. (38 Leaflets 
now ready.) 

Allen's History Topics. Covers Ancient, Modern, and American history, and 
gives an excellent list of books of reference. Price, 25 cents. 

Fisher's Select Bihliog. of Ecclesiastical History. An annotated list of the 
most essential books for a Theological student's library. Price, 15 cents. 

Hall's Methods of Teaching History. " Its excellence and helpfulness ought to 
secure it many readers." — The Nation. Price, $1.50. 

Wilson's The State. Elements of Historical and Practical Politics. A text-book 
for advanced classes in high schools and colleges on the organization and func- 
tions of governments. Retail price, $2.00. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, 

BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO- 



Civics, Economics, and Sociology. 



Bout-well' s The Constitution of the United States at the End of the Firsl 

Century. Contains the Organic Laws of the United States, with references to the 
decisions of the Supreme Court which elucidate the text, and an historical chapter re- 
viewing the steps which led to the adoption of these Organic Laws. In press. 

Dole's The American Citizen. Designed as a text-book in Civics and morals for the 
higher grades of the grammar school as well as for the high school and academy. Con- 
tains Constitution of United States, with analysis. 336 pages. $1.00. 

Special editions are made for Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, No. Dakota* 
So. Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Texas. 

Goodale's Questions to Accompany Dole's The American Citizen. Con- 
tains, beside questions on the text, suggestive questions and questions for class debate. 
87 pages. Paper. 25 cts. 

Gide's Principles Of Political Economy. Translated from the French by Dr. 
Jacobsen of London, with introduction by Prof. James Bonar of Oxford. 598 
pages. $2.00. 

Henderson's Introduction to the Study of Dependent, Defective, and 

Delinquent Classes. Adapted for use as a text-book, for personal study, for 
teachers' and ministers' institutes, and for clubs of public-spirited men and women engaged 
in considering some of the gravest problems of society. 287 pages. $1.50. 

Hodgin's Indiana and the Nation. Contains the Civil Government of the State, 
as well as that of the United States, with questions. 198 pages. 70 cts. 

Lawrence's Guide to International Law. A brief outline of the principles and 

practices of International Law. In press. 

Wenzel's Comparative View of Governments. Gives in parallel columns com- 
parisons of the governments of the United States, England, France, and Germany. 26 
pages. Paper. 22 cts. 

Wilson's The State. Elements of Historical and Practical Politics. A text-book on 
the organization and functions of government for high schools and colleges. 720 pages. 
$2.00. 

Wilson's United States Government. For grammar and high schools. 140 pages. 
60 cts. 

Woodburn and Hodgin's The American Commonwealth. Contains several 

orations from Webster and Burke, with analyses, historical and explanatory notes, ana 
studies of the men and periods. 586 pages. $1.50. 

Sent by mail, post paid on receipt of prices. See also our list of books in History. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 



DRAWING AND MANUAL TRAINING. 



Johnson's Progressive Lessons in Needlework. Explains needlework from its 

rudiments and gives with illustrations full directions for work during six grades. 117 
pages. Square 8vo. Cloth, $1.00. Boards, 60 cts. 

Seidel's Industrial Instruction (Smith). A refutation of all objections raised pgainst 
industrial instruction. 170 pages. 90 cts. 

Thompson's Educational and Industrial Drawing. 

Primary Free-Hand Series (Nos. 1-4). Each No., per doz., $1.00. 
Primary Free-Hand Manual. 114 pages. Paper. 40 cts. 
Advanced Free-Hand Series (Nos. 5-8). Each No., per doz., $1.50. 
Model and Object Series (Nos. 1-3). Each No., per doz., $1.75. 
Model and Object Manual. 84 pages. Paper. 35 cts. 
./Esthetic Series (Nos. 1-6). Each No., per doz., $1.50. 
^Esthetic Manual. 174 pages. Paper. 60 cts. 
Mechanical Series (Nos. 1-6). Each No., per doz., $2.00. 
Mechanical Manual. 172 pages. Paper. 75 cts. 
Models to accompany Thompson's Drawing : 

Set No. I. For Primary Books, per set, 40 cts. 

Set No. II. For Model and Object Book No. 1, per set, 00 cts. 

Set No. III. For Model and Object Book No. 2, per set, 50 cts. 

Thompson's Manual Training, NO. I. Treats of Clay Modelling, Stick and 
Tablet Laying, Paper Folding and Cutting, Color, and Construction of Geometrical 
Solids. Illustrated. 66 pages. Large 8vo. Paper. 30 cts. 

Thompson's Manual Training, NO. 2. Treats of Mechanical Drawing, Clay- 
Modelling in Relief, Color, Wood Carving, Paper Cutting and Pasting. Illustrated. 
70 pp. Large 8vo. Paper. 30 cts. 

Waldo's Descriptive Geometry. A large number of problems systematically ar- 
ranged, with suggestions. 85 pages. 90 cts. 

Whitaker's How to Use Wood Working Tools. Lessons in the uses of the 

universal tools : the hammer, knife, plane, rule, chalk-line, square, gauge, chisel, saw, 
and auger. 104 pages. 60 cts. 

Woodward's Manual Training School, its aims, methods, and results; with 

detailed courses of instruction in shop-work. Fully illustrated. 374 pages. Octavo. $2.00. 

Woodward's Educational Value of Manual Training. Sets forth more clearly 

and fully than has ever been done before the true character and functions of manual train' 
ing in education. 96 pages. Paper. 25 cts. 

Sent postpaid by mail on receipt of price. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 



READING. 



Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading. A manual for pri- 
mary teachers. Plain and practical; being a transcript of work actually done in the 
school- room. $1.50. 

Badlam's Stepping-Stones to Reading. — A Primer. Supplements the 283-page 

book above. Boards. 30 cts. 

Badlam's First Reader. New and valuable word-building exercises, designed to follow 
the above. Boards. 35 cts. 

Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers : Plant Life, intended to supple- 
ment the first and second reading-books. Boards. 30 cts. 

Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers : Animal Life. Gives lessons on 

animals and their habits. To follow second reader. Boards. 40 cts. 

Fuller's Illustrated Primer. Presents the word-method in a very attractive form to 
the youngest readers. Boards. 30 cts. 

Fuller's Charts. Three charts for exercises in the elementary sounds, and for combin- 
ing them to form syllables and words. The set for $1.25. Mounted, $2.25. 

Hall's HOW tO Teach Reading. Treats the important question: what children should 
and should not read. Paper. 25 cts. 

Miller's My Saturday Bird Class. Designed for use as a supplementary reader in 
lower grades or as a text-book of elementary ornithology. Boards. 30 cts. 

Norton's Heart Of Oak BOOks. This series is of material from the standard imagin- 
ative literature of the English language. It draws freely upon the treasury of favorite 
stories, poems, and songs with which every child should become familiar, and which 
have done most to stimulate the fancy and direct the sentiment of the best men and 
women of the English-speaking race. Book I, 96 pages, 25 cts.; Book II, 268 pages, 
45 cts.; Book III, 308 pages, 55 cts.; Book IV, 370 pages, 60 cts.; Book V, 378 pages, 
65 cts. 

Smith's Reading and Speaking. Familiar Talks to those who would speak well in 
public. 70 cts. 

Spear's Leaves and FlOV/ers. Designed for supplementary reading in lower grades 
or as a text-book of elementary botany. Boards. 30 cts. 

Ventura's MantegaZZa'S Testa. A book to help boys toward a complete self-develop- 
ment. $1.00. 

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. I. Describes crabs, wasps, spiders, bees, and some 
univalve mollusks. Boards. 30 cts. 

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. II. Describes ants, flies, earth-worms, beetles, bar- 
nacles and star-fish. Boards. 40 cts. 

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. III. Has lessons in plant-life, grasshoppers, butter* 
flies, and birds. Boards. 60 cts. 

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. IV. Has lessons in geology, astronomy, world-life, 
etc. Boards. 70 cts. 

For advanced supplementary reading see our list 0/ books in English Literature. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 



GEOGRAPHY AND MAPS. 



Heath's Practical SchOOl Maps. Each 30 x 40 inches. Printed from new plates 
and showing latest political changes. The common school set consists of Hemispheres, 
No. America, So. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, United States. Eyeletted for hanging 
on wall, singly, $1.25 ; per set of seven, $7.00. Mounted on cloth and rollers. Singly, 
$2.00. Mounted on cloth per set of seven, $12.00. Sunday School set. Canaan and 
Palestine. Singly, $1.25 ; per set of two, $2.00. Mounted, $2.00 each. 

Heath's Outline Map Of the United States. Invaluable for marking territorial 
growth and for the graphic representation of all geographical and historical matter. Small 
(desk) size, 2 cents each; $1.50 per hundred. Intermediate size, 30 cents each. Large 
size, 50 cts. 

Historical Outline Map Of Europe. 12 x 18 inches, on bond paper, in black outline. 
3 cents each; per hundred, $2.25. 

Jackson's Astronomical Geography. Simple enough for grammar schools. Used 
for a brief course in high school. 40 cts. 

Map Of Ancient History. Outline for recording historical growth and statistics (14 x 
17 in.), 3 cents each; per 100, $2.25. 

Nichols' Topics in Geography. A guide for pupils' use from the primary through 
the eighth grade. 65 cts. 

Picturesque Geography. 12 lithograph plates, 15x20 inches, and pamphlet describing 
their use. Per set, $3.00; mounted, $5.00. 

Progressive Outline Maps: United States, *World on Mercator's Projection (12 x 
20 in.) ; North America, South America, Europe, *Central and Western Europe, Africa, 
Asia, Australia, *British Isles, *England, *Greece, *Italy, New England, Middle Atlan- 
tic States, Southern States, Southern States — western section, Central Eastern States, 
Central Western States, Pacific States, New York, Ohio, The Great Lakes, Washington 
(State), *Palestine (each 10 x 12 in.). For the graphic representation by the pupil of 
geography, geology, history, meteorology, economics, and statistics of all kinds. 2 cents 
each; per hundred, $1.50. 
Those marked with Star (*) are also printed in black outline for use in teaching history. 

Redway's Manual Of Geography. I. Hints to Teachers; II. Modern Facts and 
Ancient Fancies. 65 cts. 

Redway's Reproduction of Geographical Forms. I. Sand and Clay-Modellmg; 

II. Map Drawing and Projection. Paper. 30 cts. 

Roney's Student's Outline Map Of England. For use in English History and 
Literature, to be filled in by pupils. 5 cts. 

Trotter's Lessons in the New Geography. Treats geography from the human 

point of view. Adapted for use as a text-book or as a reader. In press. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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